City Of Crying Angels
by unbroken.dreams
Summary: A good supervillain always has a Plan B, Simon has learned this from various movies and comic books. Still, little does he know that when Sebastian threatens Isabelle, this IS such a plan... / Sets in the middle of City of Lost Souls after Simon bit Izzy, taking a very different direction from there. SIZZY and later also MALEC!
1. Sebastian's threat

Greetings fellow Sizzy-Shippers :)

Yes, this is a Sizzy Fanfic. However, there will be a bigger mystery to solve than just trying to figure out a way for those two sweeties to finally get together ;)

Please note the genres of this Fanfic: _**Drama, Romance, Humor**_ but also _**Mystery**_ and _**Hurt/Comfort**_! (Yes, it is possible to unite all of these genres xD Or at least I hope so.) I guess over time other ships will be mentioned (such as Malec or Clace) but mainly this will stay Sizzy-centered.  
I'd like to thank _secondofinfinite_ from tumblr, who as encouraged me to write this Fanfic and also added some ideas! Thank you, you are so great!

Also I'd like you keep in mind that english isn't my native languange. I'm trying my best to avoid mistakes, but please don't go too hard on me if there are a few.

**Summary:** A good supervillain always has a Plan B, Simon has learned this from various movies and comics. Still, little does he know that when Sebastian threatens Isabelle, this IS such a plan... | Sets in the middle of City of Lost Souls (Chapter "The Stuff of Heaven") after Simon bit Izzy, taking a _very_ different direction from there.  
_A/N Sebastian took the ring a bit sooner from Clary than he did in the books._

* * *

**CITY OF CRYING ANGELS  
chapter one: Sebastian's threat  
**

_It's Simon, isn't it?_

Simon awoke with a shock. If he'd still be alive he probably would have gotten a heart attack. He knew that voice... and it was _inside his head_! It wasn't just the shock of hearing his voice, it was the fact that the only voice he should be able to hear inside is head was Clary's!

_Sebastian_, he replied in his head and got out of the bed. Simon really didn't want to talk with Sebastian with Isabelle lying next to him. As a matter of fact he didn't want to talk to him at all.

_Very good. And people say teenage boys don't pay attention to anything that doesn't have breasts._

_Well, technically you do have breasts. They're just not very big._

There was laughing inside his head but it was cold and without any emotion.

Simon reached the window and looked out of it as he tried really hard not to trow some insults towards Sebastian. Instead he managed to ask: _Where's Clary?_

_She's alright. She's a good actress you know. If I didn't know her better I may have even believed her in wanting to join us. Oh and of course if I hadn't seen the ring she thought I didn't recognize._

_You don't know her at all._ Simon said angrily and started to play with the ring on his finger. _And if she's fine how come you have the ring?_

_Believe it or not, you _can_ get a ring from someone without killing the one who wears it. But 101 ways to steal a ring isn't exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. Neither is Clary._

_Then why did you wake me up in the middle of the night?_

Sebastian snorted. _Do you even listen to yourself? You're a disgrace of your entire race. You're a Vampire for crying out loud. You should be up all night anyway, sleep during the day and kill – not drink someone's blood as some sort of very repulsive foreplay._

Simon swallowed hard. _But-_

_These rings do more than just enable you to communicate with my sister. They're capable of so much more, but only if you know how. I do. Of course I wasn't expecting a softcore film..._

_What the hell do you want? _Simon wasn't able to say or think the name of-... but he was able to speak of hell, which was more suitable for Sebastian anyway.

_You helped my sister lying to me. I do not permit that. Clary will receive her punishment soon enough, there's nothing you can do about that... but there might me something you can do about _your _punishment._

He got mad but tried not to let his emotions take over. _What are you going to do to Clary?_

_Nothing that concerns you. You're very interesting, though. I just told you there was a punishment for you as well and all you care about is Clary?_

_Because I am what is called a good person. Let me explain the concept of selflessness to you, since you may not be familiar to it: I care more about others than I care about myself. Besides, you can't hurt me and you damn well know it._

_I can't hurt you physically, that's true, but that doesn't mean I can't hurt your heart. Figurative speaking of course._

_Hurt my heart? Who are you trying to be now, Shakespear?_ But joking didn't help the feeling that Sebastian just shoved something down is throat which got stuck.

But Sebastian didn't elaborate on that and went right to his threat: _What would you do, to save your beloved Isabelle?_

Simon froze but managed to turn around to Isabelle right after he felt like he had control over his body again. She was still asleep in the bed. His hands turned to fists. _Leave her out of this._

_Oh, I wish I could._

Now it was on Simon to snort. _No you don't._

_Maybe not. But that's really not the issue here. See, I _will _hurt her and you will have only your naughty-actions to blame for this... unless you do something for me._

Simon was silent for a while, clenching his theeth, before he replied with: _What could I possibly do for you?_ That bastard had a brainwashed Jace and Clary, what more could he want?

_I heard you approached Azazel. I want you to convince your friends to take him up on his offer._

_Why would you want that? If he keeps his word he will take you down to hell._

_That's right. _If._ Let's just say I have a feeling he won't. And I want him free._

_Why?_

_That's my business. Think about it, Lewis. You do that I won't harm your precious little Isabelle. If you don't, she will suffer. Think about it. Oh and just to be clear: If you tell anyone about our conversation, she'll suffer anyway._

And then Sebastian was gone.

Simon leaned against the wall and sunk on the floor, looking at the ring on his finger before he suddenly took it off any layed it on the floor. Sebastian couldn't follow his actions if he didn't have the ring on him, right? He wish he knew if that was true. If he did he could talk to anyone about this and ask for advice...

He got up, put the ring on the windowsill and went back to the bed but he just stood in front of it at first, thinking about leaving. Not because he wanted to run away but because he suddenly felt that his feelings for Isabelle where the reason why she might get hurt. But even if he left, that wouldn't help anyone. Especially not her. Sebastian would just hurt Isabelle when Simon didn't do as he was told, no matter if he was here or, let's say, Mexico. So he just got back into the bed.

As if Isabelle could feel he was back she turned and clinged to him. Her head now lying on his chest Simon couldn't help but to place a soft kiss on the top of her head and putting an arm around her. To his surprise she moaned and woke up.

"Simon?" she was still drowsy but managed to hold her head up so she could look at him.

"Sorry, did I wake you?"

"Well, squeezing someone as hard as if he was a squeez toy wakes even a Shadowhunter up." she said matter-of-factly.

"Oh", he took his arm away. "Sorry. I still haven't gotten used to the Vampire strenght." To be honest he was getting better at that, but his anger must have triggered his strengh subconsciously.

But Isabelle wasn't this easy to fool. She sat up and used one hand to brush over is cheek."Is something wrong? You look worried."

_Oh, no. Sebastian just threatened to hurt you if we don't unleash Azazel upon the world but aside from that everything's peachy._ Mentally he sighted.

If he said that Izzy would get hurt for sure. But – assuming he even _could_ talk the others into unleashing Azazel, which he wasn't even convinced of – could he do it? Could he set a great demon free to protect a Shadowhunter from getting hurt? All they did was fighting anyway. Iz would choose going up against Sebastian instead of unleashing Azazel, Simon knew that. But this knownledge didn't make his decision easier. If it were her choice to get hurt it would be bad enough, but the thought of _him_ being the one responsible for it - he couldn't live with that. Or, in his case, he couldn't be undead with that.

And of course there was also Clary on his mind, who would get a punishment no matter what he did. This was just all so bad. He'd known these rings had been a bad idea from the start!

"Nothing, just... I just haven't heard from Clary in a while. I'm worried Sebastian found out about the rings and did something to her." That was as close to the truth as he could get without telling her too much.

Isabelle was silent for a moment before she responded. "You're a good friend, Simon. But Clary's a big girl. Actually scratch that: She's a Shadowhunter. She chose to go there by herself and I probably would have done the same if I was her."

"Yes but you've been a Shadowhunter since forever and Clary is new with this."

"Everyone is new at something at _some_ point. Do you have any idea how often I almost died? Besides... think about it. If someone you loved as much as she loves Jace were in danger – wouldn't you also risk your life?"

"_My_ life. Yes." And suddenly they weren't talking about Clary anymore. Or at least he wasn't. "But what if you had to risk the life of others as well?"

Isabelle frowned. "Clary's not doing that."

"No. But what if someone you loved was in danger and the only way to keep them from getting hurt would be to risk many lifes. Would you do it?"

She was silent for a while, thinking. "Do you know the very definition of being a Shadowhunter?"

He tried hard to remember what Clary had once explained to him but the exact words had slipped his mind. "It's... your duty to protect humans. Mundanes."

"Well, there's your answer." Isabelle said before placing a soft kiss on his lips and then put her head on his chest again, trying to fall back to sleep.

Simon didn't think he was able to sleep anymore. And while thinking about what Isabelle had said and what he should do, there was one thing he realized: Isabelle hand't answered his question. He been absolutely sure that she'd have sacrifized her loved one instead of many innocent lifes. After all that was her job. But she hadn't said it. Did that mean she'd chose the person she loved over everyone else? Should he, too?

* * *

I'll leave you with this question. What do you think Simon should do?

I really hope you liked the first chapter. If you do I will try to update, soon.  
Please leave a Review and let me know!


	2. Maximum of Protection

Would it be too soon for me to say that I love you all? xD The Sizzy Fandom is AMAZING! I'm so happy about your lovely reviews!

**Guest -** How could I not continue when you love it? Thank you!  
**Mimi-Marie34 -** Awww. Aw. Aw. Aw. Thank you SO MUCH I am speechless. I don't know about the Cassandra Clare thing, but still, you review totally made my day!  
**Lewislove -** Well here it is :)  
**FangirlZ14 -** Patience :D But it's here now  
**AlejandraMartinez -** I'm pretty sure you'll continue hating Sebastian but that's kind of the point lol Thank you!  
**Restless5oul -** Wow, thanks so much. I do hope you will like where the story is headed once you know more :) I already have the whole plot worked out in my head!

And now the next chapter:

* * *

**CITY OF CRYING ANGELS  
chapter two: Maximum of Protection  
**

As predicted Simon hadn't slept at all last night, after Sebastian had _visited_ him. Bright side: He'd had a lot of time to think about what to do. Not so bright side: All the time in the world wouldn't be enough to figure this out...

This problem had not one but two bottom lines. One: He couldn't let that monster hurt Izzy, he wasn't even going to let him _near_ her. And two: He couldn't just unleash a demon, who, pressumably, was already on Sebastian's side. But what if his desicion didn't just effect Isabelle's fate? What if Clary's punishment would be even worse?

On the other hand, what prevented Sebastian from hurting Isabelle even _if_ Simon did what he was told to? After all that bastard was evil! Evil people never lifted up to their word. He'd watched enough movies and been screwed over in video games often enough to know that! Of course the thought of Izzy paying for his actions no matter _what_ he did wasn't exactly comforting either.

His train of thoughts was wrecked by someone knocking on the door. "Hey, Lovebirds. If I were you I'd get out of there, Alec looks like he's about to knock down the door." It was Magnus.

Simon heard Alec whispering "Would you shut up? I wasn't going to do that."

"Also, we need to talk about our situation with the cute little demon we summoned. So get up, get dressed and get out here." He sounded like a drill sergeant.

Simon heard the two of them walking away with Magnus saying: "And for the record: You were. You really need to stop thinking about all the naughty things the Vampire might do your sister, that's not good for your tan."

"It's more the things **she** comes up with and gets him to do her I'm worried about. No offense to Simon but Izzy's... been around."

_Ah, nice._ Simon thought. In other circumstances he might have worried about the fact that Izzy had way more experience than he had (which of course he had already known before and really just added to his list of complexes). But he'd rather have Izzy being bored with him than getting hurt.

He felt her move on his chest and watched her closely as she got up. "What was that?" she asked, still half asleep.

"Your bother. Being worried that you think of some dirty stuff I could do to you. And considering you begged me to bite you last night I don't think he's wrong."

Izzy grinned. "Oh, that wasn't dirty."

Simon raised his eyebrowes and blinked. "Where you not there?"

Isabelle laughted, leaned down to him and drove her hand through his hair. "I was. Very much." She gave him a kiss and Simon, still stunned, somehow managed to kiss her back. When she drew back she was still near to his face.

"So, do you want breakfast? Because once I got rid of the bite marks you don't get to drink anymore before we get out there. Alec would be furious if he knew."

He couldn't believe the was actually saying these words. "I'm fine, thanks..."

She seemed almost disappointed but got up and took her stele, starting to drew an _iraze_ on herself. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I just still don't understand why _you're_ okay with me biting you."

"I told you, I enjoy it."

"Yes but why? It's hurting you."

Isabelle shrugged her shoulders. "I'm just weird I guess. But if you don't want to bite me anymore that's fine."

Oh no. Simon knew _that's fine_ usually meant: _Everything is not fine, run for your life!_ He decided to go for damage control and grapped her wrist as she attempted to walk away.

"It's not that and you know it. I just don't want to hurt you. I don't want _anyone_ hurting you..."

Izzy sat down on the bed and looked at him. "And I think that's very sweet of you. But if I tell you it's alright then it's alright... stop worrying about me. I already have Alec for that."

"But I do worry. I mean, I know you're not my girlfriend and all but..." _I love you anyway._ He said in his mind but not out loud. It seemed inappropriate. Okay and he was scared as hell to saying it, since the last time he did love someone Clary slowly ripped his heart out and walked all over it, together with Jace. But that was a different issue.

It took him a while to realize that Isabelle was staring at him and for a moment he thought she seemed nervous. He told himself he was imagining it.

"But...?" she asked.

"You're a Shadowhunter. And apparently you almost died _a lot_ of times, so... I worry. I worry that Sebastian might get bored with bossing Jace around and being suspicious of Clary and that he might come after you next."

"I wish he would. I still owe him a very slow and painful death."

Simon sighted. There was no point in talking to her about this. Someone like Isabelle wasn't afraid of a fight with Sebastian, she was actually looking_ forward_ to it. And as much as he wished for her to be different – this was also a part of who she was and also something he loved about her. Simply because he loved everything about her. There wasn't a single thing she could do that would make him stop loving her, he knew that much. And it scared him. He had never loved anyone like that, not even Clary.

"Why are you suddenly so worried about Sebastian coming after me? He could come after Alec or Magnus just as much. Or after you."

Fair point. If you didn't have the information Simon had...

"Because I tend worry more about someone I-" Ugh. Again. He really needed to stop these attempts of a love confession! "am attracted to."

Isabelle looked at him for a while and Simon wasn't sure if she would buy it. "Magnus will be so disappointed." she finally said. "I think he had a threesome in mind. You know, you Alec and him", she said and got up, leaving a very disturbed Simon behind.

"You're kidding, right?" he asked but aside from a giggle he didn't get an answer. "Please tell me you're _kidding_!"

: : : : :

Simon had found out that he was _not_ good in making decisions under pressure. He also didn't dare to wear the ring anymore but up until now no one had noticed. They had just finished eating the bagels Alec had brought and drinking coffee. Well, everyone else had, Simon had just been sitting there, thinking about what to while pretending not thinking about anything at all (wich was a very hard thing to do).

"Alright. Now we all agree we tell Azazel everything he gets to take to hell with him is his offer, right?" Magnus said.

While everyone else seemed to agree Simon said "Uhm..."

"Yes, Stewart?"

Simon didn't even care to correct Magnus this time. "I have a question... what would be so bad about unleashing Azazel? He's the demons of weapons, right, not the demon of pointless-violence-and-just-for-fun-death."

"_Every_ demon is the demon of pointless-violence-and-just-for-fun-death." Magnus pointed out. "At least every pure demon."

"Yes, but, there are worse demons than him, aren't there? And if he can help us defeat Sebastian..." He stomach tightened as he said that. Even if he was just asking questions he felt like he was betraying them already. "I'm just saying – maybe it's worth it."

Magnus raised his eyebrowes. "Did you by any chance bite a hippie last night? You seem stoned."

_You have no idea._ Simon thought. But hearing Magnus saying that made him realize how very much insane he had sounded.

"Simon, what's going on?" Alec asked.

Suddenly everyone was staring at him which made him feel very uncomfortable. He sighted. If they weren't going to unleash Azazel there was no point in not telling them about Sebastian's threat, was there? And maybe he wouldn't even hear him without him wearing the ring.

"I talked to Sebastian last night. He took Clarys ring and used it himself. Clary's fine, or at least he said so, but he did mention something about a punishment for betraying him... and he also said I would be punished, too, because I helped her. And since he can't hurt me" he looked to Isabelle. "He threatened to come after you. _Unless_ we free Azazel..."

There was a long silence. It was Magnus who spoke again first, saying: "Well, I guess it's safe to say freeing him is _so_ off the table now."

"I agree." Isabelle said. "If Sebastian wants Azazel free that can only mean trouble. We can't do that! I can't believe you even thought about it for a second!"

Awesome, now she was upset with him. "I was just trying to find a way to protect you! He has nearly killed you _twice_, Isabelle, I thought maybe the third time's a charm! And I'm not saying I was trying to convince you to free him I was just asking if it would be possible without causung great damage."

"Well, it's not." Alec said. "And why didn't you tell us any of this sooner?"

"Yes, why didn't you?" Isabelle asked. Simon could see that she finally undestood why he had been so worried about her and she also was obviously mad about him not telling her before.

Simon sighted. "Because he said if I told you he would know and hurt you anyway. But I realized that freeing Azazel isn't an option so I figured I might as well tell you..."

After another moment of silence Magnus said: "He shouldn't be able to hear us when you're not wearing the ring."

"Shouldn't?" Alec demanted.

"Yes, shouldn't. There might me one or two tricks Sebastian knows and I don't. However, he _is_ going to know that we didn't free Azazel soon enough. And when he figures it out" he looked at Izzy. "you may want to be in a very safe place."

"I'm not going to run away. Besides, this is the safest place there is, right? We have two Shadowhunters, a Vampire and a Warlock. Plus two Werewolfes only one call away. And with the wards you put up... this really is the maximum of protection, isn't it?" Isabelle sounded actually_ unpleased_ at the thought that she was very well protected here.

Simon knew she wanted to fight Sebastian but to be honest, he didn't think she stood a chance against him. He was extraordinary strong and had put her in her place before. Besides, with the connection he and Jace had they couldn't just kill him, even if they would be able to.

"If you say so." Magnus didn't seem convinced with Izzys definition of _maximum of protection_ but didn't argue with her either.

: : : : :

"Sebastian?"

Jace walked into the kitchen, while Jonathan was playing with the ring in his hands. Simon had taken the one he had off – he had expected that much. Even the Vampire-Boy wasn't stupid enough to keep wearing it. "What are you doing?"

"Thinking."

"About?" Jace walked to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of Coke.

"About how there's a slight change of plans..." Of course it wasn't exactly a _change_ of plans. Jonathan had been planning this for a while now it had just taken him until last night to chose Isabelle Lightwood for it. He had thought about using Clary, but then again, she didn't deserve this. Her betrayal had been as hurtful as it had been foreseeable. "We're going to make a quick stop at New York tonight."

The choice he had given Simon had never been a choice. He wasn't the deal-making kind of person, at least not the ones, he intended to keep. He knew Simon would never unleash a great demon upon the world, he was to _good_ for something like that. No. His punishment would be guilt. Guilt he would feel, because he didn't do what Jonathan had told him to and because of that Isabelle got hurt. Well, at least he would think that way.

"Why?"

"Remember all that stuff you told me about Isabelle?"

Jace nodded but still appeared to be confused.

"I have come to the conclusion that you're right. But first things first... I'll need to speak with the Seelie Queen."

* * *

Oy oy, a look into the evil master mind... anyone wondering what he's going to do? ;)

I hope you liked this chapter! Please let me know what you think about it :)


	3. Home alone

You guys are the best!

**ICraveYou -** Thank you :) I'm really glad you like it so far!  
**Guest1 -** I might have blushed readon "perfection". Thank you!  
**Mimi-Marie34 -** Aaww you are so sweet! I hope Saturday is alright, too :D  
**Guest2 -** Here's more!  
**AlejandraMartinez -** It may take a while to find out what Jace said. Patience. But I'm so glad you like it :)  
**Cecily Lightwood -** Oh, the Story barely got started... It will take a long time 'till I finish it - but I will eventually.

I also brought a new chapter with me (of course I did it would be mean to update without one xD). I do hope you like it!

* * *

**CITY OF CRYING ANGELS  
chapter three: Home alone  
**

"Iz?"

"I'm not talking to you."

"I hate to break it to you but... telling me you're not talking to me... _is_ talking to me."

Simon sighted as Isabelle continued to browse through one of Magnus' fashion magazines in silence. He gathered all his courage and sat down next to her on the couch, saying: "Look. I didn't mean to keep this from you. I was just trying to protect you."

Angrily Isabelle put the magazine aside. "I get that. But I don't need you to protect me. I'm a Shadowhunter, I can damn well protect myself. And I really don't need someone trying to talk to me about it without actually telling me what it's about!"

"I know. I'm sorry. I promise, the next time someone threatenes to hurt you I will tell you immediately." Although he hoped he wouldn't have to lift up to his promise.

They had been in the apartment all day. It was almost dawn now but they had been fully occupied – after Magnus told Azazel they didn't agree to his terms he had gotten furious. It had taken several hours to finally make the demon go away but he had basically turned this whole place up side down so they had ended up cleaning the apartment for the rest of the day. Everyone but Isabelle. She seemed to have found it more helpful to sulk and read magazines.

Izzy looked like she was about to forgive him but he never got to hear it. Magnus and Alec suddenly appeared in the living room, both looking very alarmed and serious. While Magnus already started on something (Simon thought it may have been a portal) Alec walked toward Simon and Isabelle.

"We have to go to the institute. Mother just send us a fire message – there's a fire."

A fire message about a fire – apparently Simon was the only one who saw the irony, or the only one willing to point it out. Of course only inside his mind. It would have been highly unsensitive to share this thought with the people who's _home_ was on fire.

Isabelle got to her feet immediately. "What?"

"The institute is on fire! We're going there" Alec said more clearly but as Isabelle attempted to walk past him he grabbed her by her shoulders. "And by _we_, I mean everyone who hasn't gotten threatened by Sebastian."

"No! Has _everyone_ forgotten I'm a Shadowhunter? I am _going_!"

Alec sighted. "No you are not! Isabelle, I'm sorry, but I'm your older brother and I say you stay put!"

Simon didn't think he ever saw Alec being that determined about anything before but he was greatful that he wasn't going to let Izzy go with them. That way he wouldn't have to try making Izzy do something she didn't want to. He had a feeling she wouldn't listen to him.

It seemed Alec thought the same way about himself, which was probably why he added: "As far as we know Sebastian may have set the fire to lure you out! You will stay here or by the Angel, Magnus will _make _you stay. Got it?" Simon glared over to the Warlock and by the look of his face, he thought, Alec hadn't really talked to him about the possibilty of using magic to make Isabelle stay.

Izzy seemed shocked that her brother would take such drastic measures but Simon was actually releaved. That meant she was safe. Mad like hell - of course - but save.

"Alec? It's ready." Magnus said and Alec nodded.

He looked at Simon and said: "You stay with her."

While Simon nodded Isabelle said: "No."

Simon turned to her and asked: "Do you just like to hear yourself say that word, or...?"

"It's bad enough that I have to stay behind, but I will _not_ let you babysit me!"

Looking at her, standing there with her arms crossed, she looked like a stubborn child. Simon could have even sworn she actually wanted him to stay. He figured her telling him to leave was just about getting her way at least about _one_ thing. There was no point of sending Simon there, it wasn't like he could go into the institute anyway. But her stubbornness seemed to be greater than her desire not to be alone, which didn't even surprise him.

"Alec", Magnus said again and Alec needed to make a quick decision.

"Fine. Simon, you come with us. Go", he shoved Simon toward Magnus and before he could even say goodbye to Izzy he was sucked into the portal, which once again made him realize how greatful he was for the invention of the subway.

: : : : :

Hurt and furious Izzy stayed behind and watched the portal close after everyone had went through it. Everyone but her. And Simon had just gone with them! Hadn't he been able to tell she had wanted him to stay? Shouldn't he have been able to?!

She exhaled in frustration and let herself fall back on the couch. What irritated her the most was not the fact that they had left her behind, but that she couldn't help them. Her mother was at the institute, what if something had happened to her? Or worse, what if Alec was right and Sebastian had set the fire to lure Izzy out, in that case it would be because of _her_ when anyone got hurt in that fire! But she was not going all Clary on this - she would stay here and wait for them. As hard as it was.

_Izzy, relax._ She told herself. Magnus was there, he should be able to stop the fire soon. By the Angel, they were so lucky Alec had started dating him... they would have died multiple times already if it weren't for Magnus.

She kept looking at her phone and testing her connection but no one called and no one texted her. The waiting was the worst part... if only she could find something out if only she could somehow contact that rotten son of a... of course! There _was_ a way to contact him!

It didn't take her long until she was back in the room she and Simon had slept in. He hadn't worn the ring which meant... Bingo. It lay on the windowsill. Izzy walked right up to it and put it on her finger. There was just one tiny problem... she had no idea how these rings worked. Simon never spoke anything out loud when he talked to Clary. But did that mean Sebastian was in her head right now? Was she inside of his? (Could it even be healthy being inside his head? It obviously didn't do him any good.)

_Sebastian?_ She asked inside her head but there was no respond.

_You little bastard, if you can hear me, pick _up_!_

Nothing.

"Damn it." Isabelle hit the wall, which didn't make her feel better at all. This was just all messed up. She wasn't supposed to stay home save while others were doing the fighting... and why the hell did Simon go with them? She knew what she'd said but that was besides the point. He should have stayed anyway!

She couldn't even tell how long they were gone. Maybe around half an hour, she didn't know. She may have done nothing but checked her phone since the moment they left but she had failed to check the time. Now she regreted it. Not that it would help her in any way, but counting the minutes would have at least given her something to do. All she knew for sure was that it was now dark outside and when they'd left it hadn't been.

Was it suppose to take that long? And why didn't anyone call? Her phone in one hand and the ring on the other she kept looking from one to another. Not that she needed to look at the ring for it to work... it didn't seem Sebastian was _online_ right now. Of course it didn't exactly help staring at her phone either.

Izzy sighted and looked out of the window, asking herself how a warlock who lived forever would chose Brookyln to live in. It seemed like a waste of immortality. For the first time since the others had left Isabelle was lost in her thoughts about something else until-

"Isabelle!"

She startled but turned around quickly.

"Simon! You're back!" It was weird that she didn't recognize him the moment he said her name but it must have been because she hadn't really payed attention.

Isabelle ran to him and flung her arms around his neck.

"Wow, how long have I been gone?" he said, surprised at her reaction.

"I don't know. Too long, I've been going insane sitting here with nothing to do, but to think of something to make you _pay_ for leaving as well!" she said as she drew away from him but still standing in front of him, looking into his eyes.

He sighted. "I'm sorry, okay? I should have stayed." But he didn't seem sorry.

"How did it go?"

"Everything's fine. No one's got hurt, when we arrived the fire department was already there so Magnus couldn't use any magic. He and Alec stayed with your mother. They send me back early to share the news. The institute is completely destroyed though... I think your parents are out of their job."

Isabelle frowned. She said "Well, only if my dad ever comes back from Idris. I think he may have forgotten he doesn't live there by now." since it was the only thing she could say. The thought of the institute being destroyed was horrible after all she did spend most of her life there. But at least no one got hurt. Still: "I'm going to kill Sebastian. Even more painful and slower than I actually planned to."

"Yeah, I get that, there's just still the problem of him being linked to Jace and all. Remember?"

She sighted. "Of course I remember. How could I forget?" Frustrated she sat down on the foot of the bed and after Simon closed the door he sat next to her, grabbing her hand.

"Everything is going to be okay, Isabelle. I don't know how but... it will be."

A sad smile came across her lips. "It kind of has to, doesn't it?"

He nodded and was silent for a while. Isabelle didn't say anything either, they just sat there.

It was Isabelle who broke the silence: "I'm glad your back. I wasn't just going insane because I couldn't do anything... I was worried. I know, I know, I was the one who told you to stop worrying all the time..."

"You don't have to be worried about me. Not with the mark of cain and everything." he sounded bitter. Izzy didn't know if he would ever get used to the mark.

"Sure but if you were to catch on fire, without someone shooting it at you, that can still kill you. You can't rely on that mark, Simon. You're not indestructible."

For a moment Simon looked surprised, probably because he wasn't used to her caring so much. At least not out loud. She couldn't blame him, she was surprised herself... she hated the way Simon made her feel and loved it at the same time. It was so weird.

"I've missed you. I actually _still_ miss you, if that makes any kind of sense..." Izzy was new to that whole feeling-stuff so she didn't know what made sense and what didn't. It was all very confusing.

Simon smiled and placed a hand on her cheek. "It makes every kind of sense." he said, leaning forward to kiss her. It was a different kiss than usually, it was demanding and confident. Isabelle kissed him back and soon after that Simon leaned over her and pressed her on the bed. Last night had obviously changed their relationship and how Simon felt about making a first move, like he was right now. He wouldn't have done that yesterday.

Lying on her back Izzy gently pushed him away from her for a moment. "Aren't you worried my brother is going to be here soon?" she was challenging him, to be honest, the thought of being caught turned her on but she knew Simon ought to be nervous. At least the yesterday-Simon would have been.

"Well, maybe he'll learn something."

Isabelle frowned for a second but then laughted. "What's gotten into you?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Must be your influence."

Before Isabel could think about that anymore he closed the distance between them and kissed her again. He took off his shirt, soon to be followed by hers. She pressed her body against his and moaned as he placed kisses on her neck, wandering down to her chest. When she felt his hand undoing her pants she bit her lip.

Her phone started to rang, but she barely even heard it. When before she would have _killed_ for that phone to ring, right now she didn't care for it. All she cared about was Simon and this very moment.

If she'd looked at her phone for just a second she'd seen who was calling. Maybe she should have. It displayed the name: Simon Lewis.

* * *

Maybe I should have mentioned it before but: This chapter has a mean cliffhanger... ;)  
I am like SO looking forward to read what you think about this chapter! Pleeaaase leave a Review, that's really just fuel to drive things forward!


	4. Weird Behavior

Hello everyone :)  
The ending of Chapter 3 did just what I had planned to - it was so cool to see that it worked! :D

**gurl-with-a-love-of-literature -** Aww thank you! I'm glad you fell for it because you were supposed to :)  
**AlejandraMartinez -** Well, that's for him (and me) to know and you do find out^^  
**CamilleLightwood -** Things will get clearer in the following chapters :)  
**ValentinaWayland -** Thank you so much :)  
**ICraveYou -** Thank you! Although, in case you were right, I hope you wouldn't kill me xD

Anyhow. Chapter 4 does not start where the 3rd Chapter has left you all wondering. But read for youselfes!

* * *

**CITY OF CRYING ANGELS  
chapter four: Weird Behavior  
**

The fire had destroyed almost the entire institute, you didn't need to be able to go inside to see that... Which was so weird. He remembered the institute being ridiculously big and all of it seemed ruined. How was that possible?

He stood outside, like he had for the past two hours or so, and watched the others do the work. He felt all dressed up and with nowhere to go. He wasn't able (or allowed) to help the fire department, he couldn't try to play hero and run inside, trying to safe someone... but luckily there was no need for that. Everyone seemed to have made it out alright, even Church.

When Alec and Magnus came back to him he asked: "Aren't you worried that the fire department might look for what caused the fire? Someone setting a fire, even to an old church, might attract attention."

"They're not going to find anything. Even _if_ Sebastian left tracks"

"Which is doubtable", Magnus weighed in.

Alec nodded and continued: "They wouldn't be in the illusion of the church they see but in the institute."

"My guess is they are going to blame the fire on bored and, or drunken teenagers. Like they always do when they need an explanation but can't find any." Magnus said and put his arm around his boyfriend to comfort him. After all he did lose his home tonight.

After a while Simon asked: "Where are you going to live now?"

Alec exhaled. "My mother is going back to Idris until she thinks of something else. She wanted Izzy and me to come with her but I'm not leaving until we haven't found Jace and I'm guessing Iz won't either."

Simon nodded. Alec didn't say it but he figured they would both stay and Magnus' place, which was probably also the safest place for Isabelle, she'd even said that herself.

When the fire was put out they stayed for a while, Alec mainly talking to his mother, leaving him and Magnus in an awkward silence. As soon as he was back they left and to their surprise Magnus called for a taxi.

"Why don't we use a portal?" Simon asked but at Magnus' annoyed look soon wished he had kept his mouth shut.

"In case you haven't noticed this place is filled with mundanes, including - reporters. We have enough problems to solve already, do you really wish we'd get us another one? Because if you're bored, you can always bite one of the reporters."

Simon didn't respond and just got into the cab without so much as breathing. Literally. It wasn't like he needed to anyway. Inside he tried to reach Isabelle again. He had tried to call her before but hadn't got an answer – this time wasn't any diffent. He hung up and looked out the window, but Magnus seemed to notice his frustration.

"Trouble in paradise?"

He sighted. "I think she's mad at me. Still I would have thought she'd pick up the phone at least to hear if everyone was alright." That was weird, right? Simon was worried (again – or still, whatever).

"Oh, when Izzy's mad - she's mad. Besides I think she expects me to call if anyone was hurt." Alec said.

"Would you?" Simon asked. "Call her I mean." For some reason he was getting nervous.

Alec, who had probably noticed that, sighted and pulled out his phone to call his sister. After a while he frowned and hung up. "No answer..."

The both of them shared a worried look and Magnus turned to the driver. "You know, if you happened to forget about the speed limit, that wouldn't be the worst thing in the world." Simon saw him slipping a banknote to the driver, who grinned and drove faster.

: : : : :

As they hurried up the stairs to Magnus' apartment Simon was pretty sure he was going to find out very soon if Vampires were able to throw up. He felt so sick and all he could think about was Isabelle. If that sadistic bastard had done something to her...

The door to the apartment was untouched. Magnus opened it and Alec nearly tackled his boyfriend as he ran past him into the apartment shouting "ISABELLE? IZ!"

Simon's throat felt cut as they didn't get any reply. He couldn't even yell for her himself it was as if his whole speech center was paralyzed by fear.

"ISABELLE SOPHIA LIGHTWOOD", Magnus didn't yell but he spoke in a loud demanding voice.

Finally. They heard a noise and Isabelle came out of the spare room, she had been staying in. "Oh, you're back." She was wearing her own pants but the top wasn't her's. At first Simon didn't see what it was though.

Alec looked at Magnus as if he had made Izzy magically appear out of nowhere. The warlock simply shrugged his shoulders. "Middle-naming someone works more often than you would think." Even though Magnus didn't show it much, Simon thought he seemed relieved that Isabelle was alright, too.

As far as Simon was concerned he felt the urge to run over to her, take her into his arms and never letting her go again. But he had a feeling that would be the classic definition of an overreaction and – especially with her brother in the same room – completely inappropriate.

And he was right to hold back, because Alec shot forward, hugging his sister.

"Okay... trying to breath here..." she said and Alec, reluctantly, pulled away from her. "I'm fine. Really." It wasn't until then Simon realized what shirt she was wearing... it was his. The one she had brought with her from Jordan's apartment.

"You don't look fine." Alec observed and Simon agreed in silence.

She looked like she had cried but he trusted his instinct and didn't say that out loud. Knowing Isabelle (who never cried, never was afraid of anything and most importantly never _ever_ would admit any of that may not always be true) wouldn't like him pointing that out. Alec must have thought the same, Simon figured, that was why he had gone with 'not looking fine'. On the other hand, maybe she hadn't cried, maybe she had just been sleeping. Because, besides looking tired she seemed fine.

"What happened here? The wards I put up are gone." Magnus pointed out and Alec looked at him in astonishment.

"What? Why didn't you say so before?"

"I'm telling you now." he said briefly and turned to Alec's sister, demanding an answer to his previous question. "Isabelle?"

"Well... as it turned out, you were right." Isabelle answered and looked at her brother. "Sebastian set the fire in the institute and he did it to get to me. And we were playing right into his hands. Oh no, wait... _you_ were. I wanted to go with you from the beginning."

The revelation stroke Simon like a lightning. Except that a lightning might have hurt less. "I should have stayed..."

Isabelle looked at him for a moment but then slowly shook her head. "It wouldn't have mattered. He would have gotten you out of his way... after all it _is_ Sebastian." Technically – no. But Simon felt like it was the wrong time to point out that technically he was Jonathan Morgenstern. Clary's brother. Which was still and would always be a very disturbing fact.

"What did he do? Are you hurt?" Alec asked and suddenly started to observe his sister.

"I'm alive."

"Why did you change your shirt?" Simon asked and tried very hard to stay away from any word that would imply that she was actually wearing HIS shirt. He didn't think Alec would like that very much.

Izzy looked down at the shirt for a moment before she looked up again. "He slashed mine when he attacked me. But all he got was the shirt. Which was _expensive_, by the way, and I have a feeling that he's not going to pay for that." Saying that she sounded like good-old-Izzy, but Simon had a feeling himself and it told him that she was just getting better at putting together an act.

"So... you fought him off?" Alec tried to sum up what had happened.

Isabelle looked at him as if he couldn't have asked a more dumb question, which was why she ended up snapping at him: "No, he killed me. Isn't that obvious?"

_Yes. It is. _Simon immediately thought and wondered if Alec and Magnus saw it, too.

She sighted. "He's gone, isn't he? And I'm not. Just be thankful for that."

Magnus had been silent for a while now and Simon noticed that he was busy observing, mostly Isabelle. He wished he knew what the warlock was thinking... to Simon he was like Yoda. Always knowing more than everyone else and kind of weird looking – but you didn't dare to make fun of it.

"Why didn't you pick up your phone?" Alec wanted to know.

"Oh, you mean _that_ phone?" she held up something that might have used to be her phone... but could also have easily once been a part of 3CPO. Izzy wrinkled her nose as she looked at it. "It still rings, but it sounds like a dying cat. And I wouldn't know how to answer a call."

Magnus picked up on _the dying cat_: "If you stepped on Chairman Meow at one point you're in trouble. - Oh, and... everyone at the institution is fine, by the way. I thought you ought to know." It wasn't until Magnus said that, when Simon realized that Izzy hadn't asked about that at all.

But she had an explanation for that as well. "I figured. If all you're doing is worrying that I lost my phone you couldn't have any other problems."

"We do, actually." Alec added. "No one got hurt but the whole building is ruined. We can't train or live their anymore."

Isabelle was silent for a moment and when she said: "Mom and Dad are out of their jobs..." she sounded like she was in trance. As if she was remembering, repeating something someone had said.

"Well... yeah. But that's really not the main issue here. Everything's gone... all the books, the weapons..."

"Your clothes..." Magnus added and Alec shot him a look as if his boyfriend had gone crazy. But not because he didn't think clothes didn't matter when it came to Izzy, Simon figured it was because all of them knew she would go all _Hulk_ on them if she knew her clothes were gone.

To everyone's surprise Isabelle didn't freak out. She stayed calm. "I can buy new ones. And now if you don't mind I would really like to go to bed now." She started walking back into her room without waiting for any of them to reply.

Without even thinking about it Simon followed her. They had spend the last two nights together, because she had wanted him there, he figured she'd need him even more when she'd had an encounter with Sebastian.

But when he reached the door she turned around and asked: "What are you doing?"

"Uh... coming with you?" Now he felt stupid.

For a moment she simply looked at him and when she did he froze. She suddenly looked different than before. When he had thought she had put up an act to make them believe she was alright, he now knew it for sure. He had seen her like this only once before – in Alicante, when Max had died. Back then she had been broken, just like she seemed to be now and that was what scared him more than anything. It wasn't easy to break Isabelle Lightwood. What could have possibly had happened that would've done this to her again?

"Iz... what happened?" he asked again, very quiet, hoping Alec and Magnus wouldn't hear him and also hoping Izzy would recognize how very much scared he was for her right now. Maybe she would give him an answer then.

But when she finally did it wasn't what he had been hoping for: "I just really want to be alone right now. Okay?"

No it was not okay... but he had to accept that. "Sure. Good night."

With a sad smile she replied "Good night" and closed the door, leaving a horrified Simon behind.

Behind him, Magnus said: "Well. Looks like you just got turned down, Scott."

* * *

So. Did this clear things up or are you even more confused? ;)  
There will be answers, I promise. Stay tuned to find out what they are!


	5. What to expect from a Lightwood (1)

Okay, I have had what was a very very exhausting day and I am completely beat. Which is why I felt like I need to update this fanfic, it always makes me feel better.

**ICraveYou -** I like confusing people lol Thanks  
**AlejandraMartinez -** Magnus cracks me up as well lol You'll find out what's going on with Izzy :)  
**Lexilovespickles -** Your wish... my command ;)  
**Whip and Fangs -** Thank you! You'll find out what happened SOON, I promise!  
**ilyreid -** Where did you get Vampire from?^^ Since that's out of the question I can reply with a clear "No" to that :) Regarding your other questions, you'll have to keep on reading!

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**CITY OF CRYING ANGELS  
chapter five: What to expect from a Lightwood (Part 1)  
**

Simon didn't care that Izzy had turned him down, like Magnus put it - okay, maybe he did, but he tried very hard not to care because there were bigger problems to worry about. He stepped away from the door and asked in a low voice: "Did you notice anything different about her?"

Magnus looked at him as if he had asked him which letter came after A and replied with a counter question: "Did you notice anything _normal_ about her?"

Fair point, Simon thought, there had been almost nothing normal about Izzy. Except of course the part where she had faked it.

"She was different, yes, but Sebastian's-" Alec started but Magnus signaled him to shut up and lead both of them into the kitchen, which, Simon thought, was probably just for decorative purpose. He had problems imagining the Warlock actually cooking. As soon as they were there all the kitchen Alec continued: "I'm just saying… Sebastian's been here."

"How can you use _just _and _Sebastian_ in the same sentence?"

Alec ignored Simon, like he did most of the time. "He's stronger than Isabelle and she is very proud. Losing, especially against him, could easily cause her to behave the way she did."

Magnus nodded, crossing his arms and leaning against the fridge. "That's right: He's stronger than she is. In a physical confrontation none of us stands a chance against him. And – I do hope this doesn't come out the wrong way, but don't you think for facing someone like Sebastian Isabelle was a bit too fine? Physically I mean."

"She probably used an _Iraze_."

"An _Iraze_ doesn't raise the dead." There was a moment of silence before Magnus continued: "Setting the institute on fire, well knowing that we would never take Isabelle with us, and taking down the wards I put up seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through – just to _pound_ on Isabelle a little bit and leaving her perfectly capable of healing herself again."

Magnus was right. That made absolutely no sense. He must have figured this out when Izzy told them, Simon thought, when he and Alec had been too busy panicking over her behavior, instead of thinking about whether or not any of this made sense. Why didn't he see that himself? He felt like an idiot and thought, Alec probably shared this feeling.

"Why didn't you say so before?" Alec asked.

"Isabelle seemed shaken up enough as it was. I didn't want to pressure her even more. Besides, she wouldn't have told us what really happened. Whatever it was – she needs to process it herself, before she can share it with anyone."

"Do you have any idea what could have happened? You seem to be able to figure out everything." Simon managed not to call him Yoda _just_ in time. He wasn't all too sure if the Warlock would like being associated with a little green Yedi. Yoda was very cool, but didn't exactly look like Brad Pitt and Magnus cared about his looks in a way, which Simon considered to be unhealthy.

Magnus hesitated. "Ideas, yes. But none of them seems very likely."

"So… what do we do now?" Alec relied completely on his boyfriend and Simon wasn't too far behind him (except about the boyfriend-part). Magnus seemed to be the only one who was able to get a hand on this situation.

"We sleep. It's been a long day. We need to rest and we'll figure out what to do next in the morning." He looked at Simon and thought for a moment (it seemed to be getting harder to think of names to call him, by now Simon thought Magnus was doing this in purpose). "Seamus. You can use the other spare room."

"Maybe I should go to Isabelle." Alec said. "I don't want her to be alone tonight."

"If she wants to be alone there's not much you can do about it." Magnus said.

"I have to try. She's my sister."

Magnus sighted. Simon was sure he understood but that didn't keep him from saying: "What do I have to do for you to stay with me?"

"Behave weird." Alec teased him.

"I _always_ behave weird."

"Fair enough – behave _normal_."

As they walked out of the kitchen Magnus thought about it and he put an arm around Alec until he finally came to the conclusion: "Näh. Not worth it."

Alec playfully pushed his elbow into Magnus' chest. The situation seemed to be funny and relaxed at first sight, but Simon felt that everyone, including himself, was still very strained. Alec gave his boyfriend a goodnight kiss, before he knocked on the door to Izzy's room.

"Iz? It's me. Alec."

Simon held back a grin. Sometimes Alec was so accurate that it wouldn't surprise him if he would have said he was _Alec Lightwood_, even to Isabelle.

"Izzy?"

There was no answer. Magnus sighted and muttered "Please tell me she didn't climb out the window."

"Why would she do that?" Simon asked but started to panic.

"Well, she's a Lightwood…"

"And?"

Magnus shrugged his shoulders. "That's it, really. Alec would never do such a thing but he's not a typical Lightwood. Sometimes I like to think that he's adopted. Isabelle, however, is exactly what you'd except from a Lightwood."

Simon didn't get to ask what that was because Alec, who had entered the room by now, stepped out of it again, looking horrified. "She's gone."

"I should have put bars to the window…"

Simon panicked. He couldn't think clearly and was almost immediately out the door to go looking for Izzy when Magnus said: "Good thinking - why _not_ run around town like a mentally disturbed Flash, with no idea where to look for a Shadowhunter, who knows how to stay hidden when she doesn't want to be found."

Usually Simon liked mentions of comic book characters, but this was hardly the time. He did, however, re-think his action and found that Magnus was right (again – this was getting annoying, he started to feel like a 12-year-old). Running off like this was completely pointless. "Can you track her?"

Magnus snipped his fingers. "See, I knew you'd get it. Next time: Think first, do crazy things later." Magnus was already gathering some things he needed for the tracking spell and Alec brought him Izzy's broken phone.

Simon paced nervously around the room while Magnus was preparing the spell as his phone rang. Being pulled out of his thoughts he jerked but then looked at his phone – maybe it was Isabelle? Considering that the pieces of her phone were lying on Magnus' dinner table that was highly unlikely, but Simon had learned to rule not even the impossible out.

The real caller, however, was very much possible. He answered the phone saying: "Hey Jordan. No offense but I don't have time right now. We're kind of in the middle of something."

"Yeah, me too... and I think you should drop whatever _you're_ doing and get over to my place." He almost whispered.

"Why?"

"I can't really talk right now. If Maia knew I'm calling you she'd kill me."

"Look, I can't play Dr. Love and _not_ just because I have no idea how to keep your ex-girlfriend from killing you. Maia's pretty feisty. - I have to stay here. Isabelle's missing, Magnus is about to do a tracking spell and-"

"Simon I don't think you understand. That's why you _have_ to come! Isabelle's _here_! Sitting on my couch and talking to Maia. Or, Maia's talking, Isabelle might me looking for a way to shut her up, I don't know."

Simon froze. Before he could say anything he heard a door open and Maias voice in the background: "Hey, who are you... oh no. You didn't call Simon."

"Uh... no. I was ordering a pizza. Want some?"

"That pizza better not turn out to be a certain vampire we both know."

"I hardly think he passes as a magherita... maybe hawaiiwan. You know, because of the sun thi-" He broke off and suddenly Maia was on the phone.

"Simon? You stay were you are, do you hear me?"

For a moment he thought about pretending to be taking a pizza delivery order, but decided that Maia was mad enough as it was. "I hear you. But I'm coming over."

"The girl climbed out of a window to get away from you – take the hint! Isabelle. Doesn't. Want. To see. You! Any of you. Do you understand that or do I have to get a restraining order?" Boy, Maia could get all mother lion when she was defending her friends... even if it was _against_ her friends.

Simon swallowed. "Why doesn't she want to see us?"

Maia hesitated. "I... can't tell you that. Look, just stay away, okay? Give her some space."

"From what?"

"I'm going to hang up now. Bye."

"No, wait-" but it was too late, Maia had already hung up. Simon stared at his phone for a moment and when he looked up, saw that Magnus had stopped doing preparations for his spell.

He said: "Why do I get the feeling we don't need to track down Isabelle anymore..."

Simon told them everything Jordan and Maia said but neither of them understood why Izzy suddenly didn't want to see any of them anymore. Sure, she had been weird before she left but running away and refusing to talk to everyone who cared about her was something Simon would have thought maybe Clary would do – but not Isabelle.

As if Alec could read his mind he said: "I don't get it. This isn't like her at all. There was only one time where she didn't want to talk to me and that was after Max... - And even then she was willing to talk to _you_" he pointed toward Simon and then sat down on the couch, next to Magnus.

"Not exactly... I mean, I didn't ask for permission to talk to her. I just went."

Magnus nodded. "Good point. It's easy to say you don't want to talk to anyone over the phone, or let's say over one or two other people. But it's a lot harder to say no when that person is standing in front of your door. Especially when you really _do_ want to talk. You just don't know how to express yourself."

Alec frowned. "Say, what are those _ideas_ you have in mind of what happened here?"

Magnus ignored him. He simply stood up and said to Simon: "I think you should go. Just you. You were the one who got through to her before, when no one else could. I believe you can do it again."

: : : : : : :

"Dude, Maia is going to kill me dead if she finds out I let you in. And then you. And then me again. Until she gets bored." As it turned out Maia had actually wanted to stay up all night, to make sure Simon didn't show up. But she had gotten tired eventually and had forced Jordan to take over the guard, whom Simon had found playing _The Fast and The Furious_, when he opened the door.

"Maybe you didn't see me. Maybe you fell asleep." Simon suggested.

Jordan thought about it for a moment. "That could work. Perhaps she'll just maim or seriously injure me then."

Simon grinned at the Harry-Potter-Implication but then got serious: "Do you know what happened to Izzy?"

"No. Maia send me out of the room the second Isabelle showed up here. Can you believe that? She threw me out of my _own_ living room!"

"Yeah, well, that's... Maia. - Where's Isabelle?"

"Your room. You know, for someone who claims not wanting to see you she's way too much curled up in your stuff."

Simon swallowed and was suddenly very nervous. He had been so worried about Izzy that he had hadn't noticed how nervous he was about going to talk to her. He walked toward his room and opened the door as silently as he could.

Isabelle was lying on his mattress and didn't move as he walked in, but he could hear that she was holding her breath as he did, so he knew she was awake. He softly closed the door again and took a view steps into the room, very careful to keep enough distance to Isabelle, which was hard for him, because all he wanted to do was go over to her and take her into his arms.

"Hey." he said in a soft voice but didn't get a response. Her eyes were open but she didn't look at him, just stared on the floor in front of her.

He had never needed more than the mattress in his room, because all he ever did when he was at Jordan's was sleep, but right now he wished he at least possessed a chair or something. But he didn't want to leave her again to get one, so he sat down on the floor, his back leaned against the wall.

"I'm sorry I'm here. Maia told me you didn't want to see me... but I couldn't not come." Still no response. "Is that okay?"

Finally he got an answer, but it wasn't what he had been hoping for. "No." There was a certain tone in her voice that seemed to say: _Of course not, you were specifically told _not_ to come, how hard is it to stay put?_

He lowered his head and bit his lip. "Do you want me to leave?" He would. If she told him to go he wasn't going to bother her. Of course he _would_ stay in front of the house to at least be near to her.

After a while she replied with another "No." This time her voice sounded broken again. The kind of broken that couldn't be repaired.

"Okay, we just ran out of options here... so I'm going to pick the answer I like better and stay. I'll just sit here." For some reason he thought that was what she needed right now. Of course she was never going to admit it but the fact that she didn't even have the strength to decline showed him that he was right.

For a couple of minutes there was nothing but silence. He simply sat there and listened to her breathing in and out while trying not to stare at her. To his surprise it was Isabelle who broke the silence after a while: "Can you tell me another story?"

Simon smiled gently. "Of course." The thought about what to tell her this time but it didn't take him long to find something. "Once upon a time there was a boy, whom everyone would one day refer to as: The boy who lived..."

* * *

That's it for today. The next chapter will contain an explanation of what exactly happened with Sebastian, I promise. Some of you may already be on the right track, but I'm pretty sure you don't know everything yet ;) So stay tuned & tell me what you think about this chapter by leaving a review!


	6. A Rune, hot like Fire

So... whoever is following me on tumblr and saw a weird post, about me being extremely exited about the reviews I've been getting for this fanfic, just know: I'm almost positively sure that I'm _not_ insane xD I was just so too HAPPY you have no idea! I admit, it's _not_ normal to freak out over reviews this much but who wants to be normal anyway? xD

**ilyreid -** You'll understand a bit better after this chapter I promise!  
**AlejandraMartinez -** Here it is :)  
**ICraveYou -** Thank you sweety^^ and the Harry-Potter-Part isn't quite over.  
**Lexilovespickles -** Thanks! I'm glad you like it!  
**Whip and Fangs -** omg are you serious? Thank you so much! I'm not sure about your Sizzy-Heart either but just keep reading!  
**RWBRyan -** Ok ;)  
**TheLittleRoguex -** How could I not update when you're falling in love with it?^^

I know it's taken me a while to update this time and I'm sorry, BUT this chapter is a bit longer than the other ones!

* * *

**CITY OF CRYING ANGELS**  
**chapter six: A Rune, hot like Fire**

For hours Simon sat in the floor and told Izzy the plot of each and every Harry Potter Book, as detailed as he remembered it. After a while Isabelle sat up, leaning her head against the wall and gave up trying to sleep. Simon didn't think she had planned to sleep from the start. He also had a feeling she didn't care about what he was telling her at all but as long as he kept talking and distracting her it would fine. He might as well could have taken a sports magazine (not that he had one) and read every single page out loud.

But no matter how long, detailed or distracting a story was - every story had to end sometime. "Harry waved his son, Albus Severus Potter, goodbye as the Hogwarts Express took off. And all was well."

"Albus Severus… poor kid." Isabelle said in a monotone voice.

"Hey, those happen to be very meaningful names."

"So? Children don't care for meaningful. If it weren't for Potter he would probably get beaten up a lot in school."

"Maybe that's why Joanne K. Rowling didn't write any more books. Mystery solved."

Izzy didn't comment on that. Instead she paused a moment and then abruptly changed the topic: "You said you would have come to Magnus' even if all I would have wanted was you to hold me while I sleep. You tell me stories when I ask you to. And you didn't yell at me for leaving without telling anyone..." He knew who she was referring to: Jace would have yelled. But he and Jace expressed their emotions in very different ways. "Why do you do all that?"

Simon had never really thought about that. He shrugged his shoulders. "You need me and I'm there. That's just how it is." For him this wasn't something to consider but a law of nature. "I'll always be there for you, Izzy, no matter what. It doesn't matter if your life is in danger or all you want is the latest issue of Batman… which, by the way, would be _so_ cool, you should totally start reading that. Besides: Who would ever say no when Isabelle Lightwood requests something?"

She lightly smiled and was silent for a long moment. Until: "I'm sorry I ran away. Usually I'm not 5 years old."

"I know you're not. Usually you're about 200 but who's counting." The tease caused Isabelle grabbing the pillow and throwing it at Simon. He caught it with a smile, glad to have gotten a playful reaction out of her. "Okay okay, I'm sorry. You can pass for 150." But then he got serious. "Why did you do it? And why did you tell Maia you didn't want to see any of us?"

"I needed to get out of there. And I thought it would better if I didn't see any of you."

"But why? We were worried about you. You could have at least told us where you were going."

"I know and I'm sorry. It's not like I intended to run away when I got back in the bedroom. At first I thought I could handle it. I mean I'm supposed to be able to handle everything. I thought I was stronger than that. I am Isabelle Lightwood… I'm not scared. And I'm not weak."

Simon resisted the urge to go over to her and take her into his arms, she didn't made the impression on him that she wanted to be close to him right now. "It's okay to be those things sometimes. No one can handle everything." He said. "That doesn't change who you are."

"What if it does? What if there are some things… you don't recover from?" she was so desperate it nearly physically hurt him to see her like this. He couldn't sit at the other side of the room anymore. He got up and walked over to the mattress but made sure to keep his distance as he sat down on it.

"Iz… there is nothing anyone could ever do to you that you can't recover from. I mean it. You're not some ordinary girl. You're not even an ordinary Shadowhunter. You are in every possible way extraordinary. And I'm absolutely sure if we had never met – I'd miss you. I wouldn't know who I'd be missing, of course, but I would know that something in my life wasn't quite right."

Moved by his words she smiled but that smile faded at fast as it had come. She swallowed and even in the darkness he could see her eyes shimmering. "I… I thought he was you." A tear ran down her cheek but she brushed it away. Simon frowned but didn't say anything, he didn't want to interrupt her.

"It some kind of glamour or... something else I wasn't able to see through. You came back from the institute sooner than the others and said Alec and Magnus had stayed with my mother. You were different than usual but I figured that was because of last night. We started… making out. I realized it wasn't you eventually… I felt his heart beating. But it was too late. He was stronger that I am and I… couldn't stop him. Suddenly I felt like my body was burning and I felt like I was falling into darkness. The only thing holding me in this world was _him_. He kept me from falling but I was surrounded by darkness and even though my body felt like it was on fire everything was so... cold. And then…" she didn't finish the sentence but Simon, frozen in horror, knew the end to it. "When you came back he was long gone. And so was I. I tried to… be normal. I thought I couldn't possibly tell you what happened."

He knew it was his turn to say something, he just couldn't think of anything that weren't death threats against Sebastian. It took him a while to swallow all of that and he finally managed to say: "I shouldn't have left you."

"Like I said before that wouldn't have mattered. He probably-" she broke off and Simon had an idea what she was thinking: That sicko would probably have made him _watch_! Isabelle couldn't bring herself to say it and he couldn't blame her. "It would have been pointless." she ended in a weak voice.

Simon had grown up as a mundane and of course had heard about this happening to girls, but he would have never figured that something like that could happen to a Shadowhunter. Of course, with Sebastian on the lose, nothing was impossible. Maybe it was a good thing that he and Jace were linked for now, that way Simon had some time to think about 99 + 1 ways to hurt someone enough, so he would feel like dying, without actually killing him. He didn't just want to kill that son of a bitch he wanted him to suffer. For the first time ever since he became a vampire he felt like he was truly a killer and not just because he was hungry.

Hungry... he had drunken his blood. To save Clary, he did it... that was what brought Sebastian back to life. _Him._ And now that had happened to Izzy because _he_ hadn't convinced them to unleash Azazel. Simon clenched his hands.

"Simon?"

He hadn't realized how out he had been, staring with dark eyes against the wall and not talking. "Sorry. I'm back."

"Where have you been?"

"In a wonderful land called: Island of Sebastian's Death. See, every day is kill-Sebastian day and every day he suffers more. It's even a contest. You can win a teddy bear and there are bonus points for maim. - You should pay a visit, it's lovely there this time a year." He wasn't going to tell her that he blamed only himself for all of this. She had enough to deal with, him beating himself up over it, wouldn't help her. She needed him now, more than ever and he was going to be there for her.

Izzy smiled a bit. "Sounds great." And then the smile fainted again. "Simon, there's something else. Two things actually. One: You can not tell Alec about this. Or my parents. Or anyone. I can't have anyone else know this."

He swallowed. "Of course." He didn't feel good keeping this from her family, but it was her decision.

"The second thing... he did something else. I don't know how or when... I didn't even realize it until I saw it. A Rune. I think he must have... _somehow_ drawn it on me when I felt like I was on fire. Because the heat arose from the rune. I have never heard of a rune who'd do this and also... I have never seen it before."

"Y-You're not saying that Clary... she would _never_ have helped him hurting you!"

"I know that. But what if she didn't know what it was about when she showed him the rune?"

"She wouldn't help Sebastian. Period. Look, Izzy, I know you're upset. But her power doesn't even work that way. She doesn't draw a line and calls it a rune, the runes come to her... nothing _bad_ would ever come to her."

Isabelle nodded. "I know how it works. It's just fact that he somehow found a glamour, or whatever that was, that even I couldn't see through and there's a rune on my body that I have never seen before. And Clary is the only one who can do such a thing."

Yes, those were indeed the facts but Simon couldn't believe that Clary had somehow helped Sebastian going through with this, even if she might not have known what she had done. "Can I see it? The rune I mean."

She hesitated for a moment. "It's almost completely gone by now. It's still... burning though." She rolled up her shirt a bit – which was still his – and he saw it. To him almost all runes looked the same, like something you would doodle while you're on the phone. This one, somehow, was different. It was very simple but extremely big. It started at her waist and ended somewhere on her chest. He couldn't see where exactly, because of the shirt. Also, he noticed, it wasn't drawn in black ink, which made it even weirder – it was dark red and reminded Simon of blood. Of course, since he was a vampire basically everything that was even _remotely_ red (sometimes even dark pink) reminded him of blood, but still.

"Izzy... I know you don't want anyone to know, but we need to find out what that rune is."

"And how are we supposed to do that? Will you take a picture and send it to Clary?"

"No." he really wished she'd stopped blaming Clary but she had been through a lot and he wasn't going to argue with her. "I was thinking about Magnus."

She immediately shook her head. "No way. He's Alec's boyfriend and the biggest gossip I have met in my entire life."

Simon hesitated for a while but decided to tell her: "I think he may already know. He said he had a few ideas of what had happened, because of the way you behaved... he didn't say anything, but he knows how to figure out stuff and somehow manages to be right about it. And if you ask him I'm sure he can keep it a secret even from Alec. - Isabelle, I'm worried about that rune. He didn't just draw it because he was bored."

Izzy bit her lip. "But there's nothing Magnus can do. If I'm right and Clary drew that rune-"

"Then we'll know at least that." He wanted to grab her hand and encourage her to go to Magnus, but after what he knew now, he didn't think she'd want anyone to touch her again ever. Especially when Sebastian had started out looking like him... or did he look like him the whole time? Had Izzy been able to see through his glamour after she figured it out? He didn't dare to ask that question.

It took her a while to answer but then she finally said: "Okay. Let's go back. Let me leave a note for Maia, though. I ran out on you guys I don't want to run out on her as well."

They left his room and found Jordan to be asleep on the couch. Well that wasn't entirely true, he was half on the couch and half on the floor. Upside down. How he had managed to do that, Simon would never know. They left a note in the kitchen and then got out of the apartment. When they stepped out of the building Isabelle took a deep breath.

"I don't want to walk." she said and in that very moment sounded like nothing bad had happened to her. She sounded _normal_.

"Okay, I'll call a cab." he had his cell half way out when Izzy took it out of his hands.

"I don't want to take a cab, either."

Somehow she always managed to confuse him without even trying. "Uhm... walking and cab are kind of the only options we have here. I can't borrow Eric's van, because when he's asleep and I don't ask it's called _stealing_."

And then she really surprised him. "There's another way. You could use your vampire speed to get us there fast."

"But... that would mean I had to... carry you." he said.

She hesitated. "I know. Simon, I don't mind you touching me." Simon figured her hesitation before told him that she did mind... she just didn't _want_ it to.

"Isabelle, I'm not sure. I mean... it's only natural, if it bothers you. You don't have to pretend with me."

Suddenly she grabbed his hand and it was _him_ who jerked with shock, not her. It was horrible, he felt like he was hurting her just by touching her... and while Izzy did look uncomfortable, she didn't seem scared, which he had expected her to be.

"I'm not pretending. Sebastian has destroyed a part of me with what he did." she admitted and let her other hand rest on his chest, where his heart would be beating. "And right now you're the only thing that keeps me from falling apart. You always do. When I'm with you I feel like I can survive anything. I want to be close to you, Simon." She lowered her head and leaned her forehead against his chest. "I am not going to let him destroy that part of me as well."

Her words touched him so much that for a very long moment he was paralyzed. Then he squeezed her hand a bit and put his other arm around her. Someone who saw them from a distance might thing they were attempting to dance, without music. After a while he let go of her hand and lifted her up. He had never carried anyone in his arms that way, not even Clary. It was the way he remembered every Superhero carrying their loved one out of the danger-zone.

Except that he wasn't a Superhero and he wasn't bringing Izzy out of any danger. He had been standing in front of a burning building, with nothing to do (except looking like an idiot) while she had been through the worst moments of her life. He certainly wasn't a hero. And he would never forgive himself for letting Izzy down, because that's what it felt like.

But right now he held her in his arms and she snuggled into his chest. "I like listening to your heart not beating." she said and Simon lightly smiled.

"I'm glad to see the trouble I went through to make that happen wasn't all for nothing." And then they went off. The sun was coming up as he raced through town in super-speed with her in his arms, carefully avoiding bumping into traffic (which, in New York, never slept) and/or people.

This, he thought, would look like the end of a Western movie. Where the good guy rode into the sunset with his girl. Except that the sun was coming up, not going down, they were one horse short, it wasn't a movie and most certainly not the end. If anything Simon had the feeling that this was just the beginning.

* * *

To everyone who's thinking: Chapter 6 and just the beginning? WTF? - Well, I never said the fanfic would be _short_... ;) In fact the real plot hasn't even begun yet.

I'm sorry for those who were hoping nothing had really happened between Izzy and Sebastian, I really am. But I hope you still like the fanfic!  
Please let me know!


	7. 24 Hours

Finally I had time to finish the next chapter. Sorry it took me this long - I blame my life xD

**ICraveYou -** You couldn't be more right. _So_ so painful...  
**ilyreid -** We'll just have to wait and see what happens with Sebastian in the end  
**AlejandraMartinez -** omg you are so sweet! Thank you so much!  
**RWBRyan -** Epicness? Wow. I'm speechless.  
**Guest -** Thanks  
**Whip and Fangs -** I'm not really the fluff kind of person xD I _can_ promise you romance, though. Every now and then between all the drama and mystery xD

Before we get to the next chapter I have an announcement to make: From now on Malec will play a bigger part in the fanfic. Don't worry, it will stay Sizzy-Centered but I have so much love for Malec as well that they will get their moments - and their very own drama (of course, let's face it_, it's me_ xD). I do hope you are okay with this :) But since Malec is the ships of all ships (as I once read and totally agree!) I'm not too worried^^

* * *

**CITY OF CRYING ANGELS  
chapter seven: 24 Hours**

"This better be important. I left a very good looking Shadowhunter alone in my bed." Magnus said as he stepped out of the building, wearing a bathrobe – which looked like something Elton John would wear to a trip to Las Vegas – and not less disturbing slippers. Simon had called him and asked him to come down without waking Alec. He didn't like the secrecy and really thought Alec should now, but he respected Isabelle's wish.

When Magnus saw Izzy he lightened up. "Ah... our missing sheep has returned." He had a weird way of saying _Nice to see you again_. But then again Magnus did everything in a weird way. "I do hope you didn't kidnap her." he said to Simon.

"What do you mean you left Alec? Is he awake?" Izzy asked, obviously worried that Alec might follow Magnus.

"Well he _did_ have trouble sleeping, after his sister went missing and all. I had to knock him out with a dozen sleeping pills. He's asleep now – and, come to think of it, he might be for the next couple of days - but sometimes I just like watching him sleep."

Simon half expected Izzy to tell him that was creepy, but she didn't. He couldn't figure out if that was because of what had happened yesterday or if she had done that once before, herself? For all Simon knew only people in love liked watching the other sleep. Izzy had never spend a night with anyone except with Simon, which meant if she did it...? He really didn't know where they stood. He was insanely in love with her, that was pretty much on the table but never said out loud. And Izzy liked him, and wanted to be close to him, even after what had happened to her, he knew that much. But was it love?

"We need your help. But before we tell you we kind of need you to promise that you won't tell Alec about this." Simon said.

"You want me to lie to Alec?" Magnus clearly wasn't too fond of the idea and Simon couldn't blame him. He didn't like it himself and considering that the last time he didn't like a plan it had turned out to be the wrong thing to do, because Sebastian found out about the rings, he was worried. Again. Worry seemed to be the only feeling left with him, lately.

Before Simon could figure out what to say Isabelle replied with a sharp: "Yes."

The Warlock looked at her for a while before he said: "Fine. But it he finds out I lied to him you are going to take full responsibility which means he's going to break up with you instead of me." Magnus picked the inappropriate times to make his even weirder jokes.

"He can't know." Isabelle said determining, with a pinch of begging in her voice.

This time Magnus was serious: "It's not my secret to tell. However, I don't think we should be discussing this on the street."

Isabelle looked uncomfortable which was why Simon tossed in: "We can't go into your apartment. Alec could wake up."

"Did you honestly think I had just the one place?"

Simon blinked. "You have another one?" Of course, since Magnus never paid for anything he didn't need to worry about living beyond his means.

"More or less." He opened the door to the building and as he entered Simon and Isabelle shared a confused look, but followed him. He lead them to the apartment below the one they already knew and opened the door, not with a key but with a wave of his hand. He walked in, turned on the light and said "Feel free to enter at any time. Unless you are more comfortable standing in the hallway and staring, in that case you might as well stay where you are."

At times he could be so obnoxious. They walked in and Simon closed the door behind them. As he took a look around he saw that this wasn't were he lived when he got bored with his other apartment (which with Magnus had been a valid possibility) but a storage place. It reminded Simon of a mix between a library and a laboratory. There were shelves everywhere, filled with more books than one person could read in a lifetime – though Simon assumed none of them were novels, but books about demonology or whatever one liked to call it.

"Have you ever heard of a little something called _basement_?" he just had to ask.

Magnus didn't even look at him. "Have you ever heard of a little something called _dangerous goods_? There are so many people walking in and out of my apartment, half of the time I don't even know who's still there and who's not. And some things are just too risky to have lying around in there. Books, which contain highly sensitive information, ingredients for spells which could easily kill or poison somebody if the wrong person got their hands on them. I used a lot of those books in trying to find a way to save Jace. - Barely anyone knows about this place. I guarded it with magic. It had been a very complicated spell to do, it took me weeks to regenerate my powers. But it had been necessary. If someone besides me, or without me, tries to enter… well, let's just say they'll get a free vacation."

"They end up in another place? Where?"

Magnus shrugged his shoulders. "No idea. I made it to be random. Thought it would be more fun that way. It could be romantic Paris or charming London just as well as the eternal ice of Antarctica or the middle of the Pacific Ocean."

_Maybe we should invite Sebastian to come over. _Simon kept this thought to himself. He didn't like to mention his name, if it wasn't absolutely necessary, when Izzy was around.

"I thought you didn't create permanent portals." Izzy pointed out.

"Strictly speaking it's not a portal at all. It's simply a part of the protection spell I used. You see, portals work both ways. This, however, is a one-way-ticket. Once you're there you need to find a way back on your own - if you can. Come to think of it, I _did_ lose track of a few warlocks and one or two burglars that way..." He explained.

"Does Alec know about this place?" Izzy asked and Simon was sure she was only buying time, before having to tell Magnus what happened.

"Yes, but he doesn't like it. He thinks it's too dangerous for me to have all this. I adore it when he worries, but he doesn't have to. I always know what I'm doing. That's something, Alec has learned very soon in our relationship."

Simon frowned and said: "Already more than I wanted to know."

"Believe me, you have no idea what you're missing out on, Stanley."

"I'm perfectly happy as I am, thank you."

"Oh, I wasn't offering. Even if I weren't dating Alec, you're not my type. No offense."

_Oh, good._ Simon thought but said: "None taken."

"So." Magnus took a seat at the great table in the middle of the room and as he showed them to sit down as well two more chairs appeared at the table. "You wanted to talk to me about something."

"Yes…" Simon hesitated and looked at Izzy who had sat down at the table and kept staring at it. "Do you want me to tell him?" He didn't know what would be harder for her. Explaining it again herself or having to listen to him repeating it.

"I can do it." She said and Simon slightly nodded when he sat down next to her. He grabbed her hand, hoping this would help her even a tiny little bit and when she softly squeezed his hand he thought maybe it did. For the first time ever since he was a Vampire he didn't just not need to breath – he didn't. Listening to what Sebastian did all over again shut down all his body functions and he was rambling with rage, but at the same time trying very hard not to show that. He needed to be there for Izzy and him coming up with ways to torture him didn't help her.

As usual Simon found it very hard to tell what Magnus was thinking. He was, however, affected by what he heard, so far Simon could tell. His eyes were dark and he seemed worried but also remained calm. He always stayed calm. Then again he didn't spend that much time with him, so that didn't mean Magnus never lost it. Simon had just never seen it.

When Isabelle had finished there was a long silence, even Magnus needed to process this. While no one said anything Izzy looked at Simon, which she hadn't done while he had been talking. He slightly nodded, which was supposed to tell her that she did good but all she did was squeeze his hand a bit more. By now she might have broken the hand of a human being, because she had kept squeezing harder and harder as she had spoken, but luckily Simon could take it.

Finally Magnus said something: "I'm sorry that happened." Izzy didn't reply and returned to stare at the table as he continued. "May I see the rune? I assume that's why you came to me."

One day Simon had to ask him if he fell in some sort of potion when he was little and as a consequence developed an enormous amount of intelligence. Like Obelix gained his strength. Of course, he thought, that would be even worse than calling him Yoda.

Isabelle nodded and rolled up her shirt a bit again. Magnus got up and walked around the table to take a closer look at it.

"And? Have you seen it before?" Simon asked, hoping Ob-, Yod-... Magnus could clarify what that rune meant.

"Not that one, no."

"But... others like it?" Isabelle asked.

"So Clary didn't draw it?" Simon added which caused Izzy to give him a shut-up-look. But he had to make sure that his best Friend hadn't had anything to do with what had happened to the girl he loved.

Magnus nodded and while Izzy rolled her shirt down again he replied: "I'm fairly certain Clary had nothing to do with it, yes. But what it means... I'm going to have to look into it." He looked exhausted as he said that and Simon couldn't blame him. He knew how hard Magnus had been working on trying to figure out how to separate Jace from Sebastian and now he had yet another task, that was very important. "I will try and figure this out as soon as possible. Until then I suggest you find a place to stay."

Simon frowned. "We can't stay here?"

"You can. I just figured-"

Isabelle cut him short: "I don't want to." Of course. How could he have even asked that question? This was were Sebastian had... hurt Izzy. Destroyed a part of her. _Of course_ she didn't want to stay here, not even during the day and with them being around. No one would. That was why she'd ran away in the first place. Stupid stupid _stupid_ question!

Magnus nodded and said: "I still don't know how he managed to take down the wards. We knew he must have connections but fooling a Shadowhunter regarding his appearance is way beyond a usual glamour." He hesitated for a moment but then added: "I believe Sebastian has done what he has done for a reason. He went through a lot of trouble to get to you – that takes more of an intention than vengeance or spite. I don't mean to upset you but I believe he might come back for you."

Isabelle jerked and Simon fought the urge to put an arm around her. Even though she said she wanted to be close to him, _he_ had a problem with it. Not because he didn't want to, but because he couldn't believe her when she said it was okay for him touching her. Holding her hand was all he could do without feeling guilty.

"He burned down the institute and has attacked you in my apartment. It appears he has specifically targeted every place you felt the most comfortable in – leaving one place out. The one you ran to immediately. It might be possible that he wanted to know exactly where you would be. Which is why I highly advice you never return to Jordan's apartment. If anything, Jordan should move as well. Remind me to tell him."

Simon froze. Could Sebastian really have planned this? Just so he would know where she would be? He looked at Isabelle and saw that she was shocked but also angered. She probably hated to have done exactly what Sebastian had wanted her to do.

"Okay, so I won't go there anymore. But that means I don't have a place to stay. Because I'm not going to go to Alicante, either." Simon could understand that. That was where Max had died. It was where she had first met Sebastian. And it was where her parents were right now.

"Well, wherever you go, you should decide soon. Once you have found a place call me. I will come over and secure it. Better than I did yesterday..." That was the first time Simon realized that Magnus might partly blame himself for what happened as well. "I assume Alec is going to wake up soon, I should go back and figure out what to tell him when he asks about you."

Isabelle lowered her head. "I'm sorry you have to lie to him."

"Yeah." Magnus said. "Me, too."

: : : : : :

Clary awoke with a shock when she heard a loud crack and was suddenly sitting up in her bed. Well, not her bed, but the one Sebastian had assigned to her. Besides her laid Jace. Again: Not _her_ Jace, but the one Sebastian had turned him into. Lately he used to spend the nights at Clary, but they just slept next to each other. She didn't want to do anything more with this Jace, because right now he wasn't the one she loved.

It wasn't like she needed proof for that, but the fact that he was still asleep – even though the crack had been extremely loud – added to the signs that he wasn't himself right now.

As for her – she was still on her mission of finding out what Sebastian was planning. But even if she managed to – she had lost the ring, therefore there was no way of contacting Simon. Of course she hadn't exactly _lost_ it, she was sure Sebastian had taken it from her. She hadn't found the right words to ask him yet ("Have you seen the ring I was wearing, which I really need for no reason at all?" seemed kind of suspicious) but she knew it had had to be him.

In order to find the source of the loud noise she got out of the bed and walked toward the door, which she opened as quietly as possible. As soon as she did she heard a voice from a long distance.

"You should learn how to control your anger when I'm around, as for it is still _you_ who requires something from me." It was the Seelie Queen. Clary walked towards the voices, trying not to make a single noise, even turning down breathing as much as possible.

"My apologies. It's a bad habit at times. I didn't like that dresser anyway. Let's try this again... Any news on when I am going to be able to proceed with my plan?"

"Which one?" she sounded amused.

"The one _you_ helped me execute."

He had more than just one plan? And he was working with the Seelie Queen? Oh this wasn't good. She felt fear coming up but suppressed it. This was hardly the time to get scared.

"You will see results very soon. Maybe another 24 hours and you can proceed. Although, may I ask: Why the sudden rush? It took you long enough to execute it, I assumed you had forgotten about it."

"I would never forget anything you tell me." Boy, he could be such a suck-up if he wanted to. "It simply took me this long to choose the perfect counterpart."

"Personally I don't see why you chose _her_."

"I was hesitant at first, but Jace told me such much about Isabelle."

Isabelle? What had he _chosen_ her for? Clary started to panic.

"Not only is she a very strong fighter, she even enjoys the hunt and unlikely to Jace not because she has a certain death-wish. Trust me, she was the right choice."

"I wasn't trying to unsettle you."

"Yes. You were. _You_ wanted it to be Clary."

"Very well. I shall go. I expect you will keep out your part of our agreement once you have what you wanted. I will be watching you, Jonathan Morgenstern."

There was silence and Clary tried to get back to her room quickly but before she reached it she felt a puff of wind and Sebastian stood right in front of her and a scream got stuck in her throat.

"I have heard about little sisters eavesdropping but this is the first time I ever had the pleasure of experiencing it."

Clary swallowed. There was no point in pretending she was on his side anymore. "What did you do to Isabelle?"

He smiled. It was cold smile which gave her a shiver. "Let's just say you may not be our only guest for much longer."

Clary frowned and then heard a noise behind Sebastian. "Are you serious? Isabelle's coming?" It was Jace.

"Yes, she is. Soon."

Jace smiled at Sebastian first and then at Clary. "Isn't that great? We'll see Izzy again!"

"Yeah..." she looked at Sebastian, without any real expression in her face. "That's awesome."

* * *

Is it? Isn't it? What the hell does that even mean? You'll find out, sooner or later. (I admit - maybe_ later_ xD)

Also, we are closing in on the main plot... two or three chapters more and we're in the middle of it. Stay tuned!


	8. Blood can't lie

It took me like 2 weeks to write this chapter, and I apologize.I just don't have enough nearly time anymore to write as much as I want to, but I do my best. But don't worry, it might take me longer to update but you are not getting rid of me lol I will keep writing and if I have to stop sleeping to do so, I will xD

**Whip and Fangs -** Oh yes they are. Glad you'll keep reading :)  
**PatriciaWayland -** Aw thank you. I can't tell you what's going to happen but things will get clearer SOON. Promise!  
**RonaldGarcia91 -** Thank you! Well, the question really isn't _how_ but _if_, is it? ;)  
**ICraveYou -** I knew you'd love the Jace part lol

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**CITY OF CRYING ANGELS  
chapter eight: Blood can't lie  
**

"And you're sure _Mommy_'s not home?" Magnus teased him.

"No. That's why _you're_ here." Simon admitted. He had had the idea of taking Isabelle to the only other place he had the keys to (or at least he used to, maybe his mother had changed the locks after throwing him out because he had died – come to think of it, that was kind of insensitive).

"And I thought I was here to guard the house."

"Yes" Simon said. "that, too."

"How do you know she's not home again?" Isabelle, who apparently hadn't payed attention before, asked. The rune – or mark, Magnus didn't seem to think it was a rune at all – had vanished completely by now and she started to act more like herself again. Of course that was now a self which had been through a lot of pain and indignity so she wasn't as feisty as usual. But still, he could see _his_ Izzy again – who of course wasn't _his_ at all but he liked to think that way.

He approached the door and rang the bell as he said: "I called Rebecca and asked her." It had been out of question that whereever Isabelle would go, he would go as well. "She said Mom's on some sort of self-discovery-trip." Becca hadn't said more but he knew it was because she needed to process the loss of her son.

No one answered the door so he got his keys out – they didn't work. He had half expected this but that didn't keep it from hurting. He took a deep breath and said: "Well, it was worth a shot. I really don't want to break into my own house, or... my mother's house. Magnus?"

"Oh so, _I_ am supposed to break in?"

"If you use magic no one will notice."

"Really? Thanks for the tip."

Simon went back and let Magnus do this thing, when blue sparks came out of his fingers. It didn't take long for the door to jump open. "E viola", Magnus said and made an inviting gesture with his hands.

As they entered Isabelle took a look around but Simon didn't dare to do so. This didn't feel like his home anymore and he didn't want to see all the changes his mother had made after she had thrown him out.

"Okay, Magnus, do your... you know" he brandished around with his hands, trying to imitate Magnus' movements when he did magic. Of course he failed greatly. "thing."

"I didn't know it was my thing to look like a dying octopus." Magnus commented but then turned around and started securing the house.

While Izzy started to take a walk around the house – which Simon considered to be a good thing, her exploring things on her own again, he took it as a sign of her getting better – Simon stayed where he was, watching Magnus. (And for the record: At times it _did_ look like a dying octopus.)

"What did you tell Alec?" he asked.

"That you were taking care of Isabelle. He didn't like it very much but I don't think it's against you personally. He would have just liked to be there for her himself. In fact I think he likes you. He can see, and I agree, that you're good for her."

Simon sadly smiled. "Yeah, very good... while I stood outside the burning institute, doing nothing but silently cheering on firemen, Sebastian-"

"You can't think that way." Magnus said. "We were _all_ at the institute. We _all_ left Isabelle behind. There was no way we could have known he'd find a way through the wards. Which reminds me..." he stopped what he was doing and turned around. "I have made them stronger this time, and I don't think Sebastian would look for her here. But I have included an alarm. It will be set off when anyone enters or leaves the house, not just Sebastian or Jace. In order not to draw any attention to the house I have made alarm to be heard by you only."

Simon nodded. That was actually very smart. "Okay. Anything else?"

"Yes. Alec and I will continue working on the Jace-Problem and I will try working on the mark from Isabelle without him finding out what I'm doing. As soon as we find out anything about either I will call you. The first thing you will hear from me is: _Wake me up before you go go_. Do not talk to me unless I say these words. With Sebastian being able to change his appearance we can't trust anyone."

Simon felt like he had been sucked into a James Bond movie, but nodded. "Question." he said, while raising his hand.

"What?"

"Will you _say_ these words... or will you _sing_ them?"

Magnus looked at him for a moment without any expression in his face, but then smiled. "And people say _I_ have a weird kind of humor."

After Magnus had finished the wards and left Simon went looking for Isabelle. He found her in his old bedroom, which he hesitated to enter. He didn't even want to know what she had turned his room into...

Surprised didn't even start to cover how he felt when he saw that everything in his room was still the way he remembered it. The only explanation he could think of was that his mom hadn't dared to even set a foot in this room again, scared that this would turn her into a Vampire as well. Like it was a contagious disease or something.

"This is a nice room." Isabelle sat on Simon's bed.

Simon shrugged his shoulders. "I guess. I don't know. Everything in here reminds me that... I'm dead. I don't usually think about it, realize it even... but seeing all this..." He stood in the room – his own room – like he would stand in the room a stranger. When he had suggested to come here all he thought about was Izzy. Now that they were here he wished he had thought of some place else.

"You barely knew me when I was still a mundane, Izzy. I was a very different person. One that would have never used the word mundane, for instance."

Isabelle shook her head. "I don't think you've changed all too much. You're still crazy about all... this" Suddenly she held a Darth Vader Action Figure in her hands, which he found very embarrassing.

There was a _reason_ why he hadn't had a real girlfriend before – girls weren't too crazy about this stuff. But Izzy just looked at the figure and smiled at Simon. "And my guess is you'll always hold on to it. No matter what happens. You are going to tell the tale of a galaxy far far away in 100, as well as in 200 and 300 years. Because this will always be you."

"And is that a good thing?"

"It's a very good thing. Because as long as you are you, and you are with me - I can be me." she lowered her had and played with the light sword of the action figure. "And also, if after everything that's happened, you still keep everything that once mattered with you... I can keep what matters to me. No matter what happened."

"Are you kidding me? You need proof for that?" Simon hesitated but finally went over to her and sat next to her. "Izzy... you are so amazing, strong and most of all _stubborn_, I bet if you died and became a Vampire you would somehow manage to keep your heart beating."

Of course this was the most ridiculous thing ever but it made Isabelle took a short laughter.

"There is not a single thing in this world you can't do. And you don't need me or anyone else for that. You may need a little help to get started again, but after that you'll be fine. Not that that changes anything, I still won't ever leave you alone, but not because you need me. It's because _I_ can't imagine a single day passing by where I don't see you, or speak to you, or be near to you."

As Isabelle looked up again she had tears in her eyes. He could tell that it wasn't because she was desperate but because she was moved by what he had said. "Maybe you're right. But I'm still glad you're with me."

"You say that now but imagine yourself in 5 years, _desperately_ trying to get rid of me but I just won't go." he quipped. "Not ever. Not even when you _beg_ me to leave and threaten to kill me... I'll never let go of you. You've got yourself a stalker for life."

Isabelle laughed, which had been the whole point of him saying any of this nonsense, therefore he was happy that it had worked. Of course it wasn't _all _nonsense. The bottom line was that he was never going to let go of her. And _never_ for a Vampire was a very long time.

"I can't imagine I'll ever do any of that." she finally said, shaking her head but still grinning.

Simon shrugged his shoulders. "Give it time." He grinned as well. He couldn't help it. Usually he could go through a joke and keep a straight face but looking at the beautiful smile on her face, he couldn't. It was physically impossible.

"So." he said after a while of silence. "What do you want to do with the rest of the day?"

Isabelle thought about it for a moment before she said: "Honestly... sleep. I'm exhausted. But... I'm scared of what my dreams might be."

"Don't worry... I'm here. I will make sure you will have the nicest dreams ever."

"And how are you going to do that?" her voice was almost playful.

"You didn't really think telling stories and looking pale and skinny are the only things I can do?" he asked in a fake-hurt tone. And it served its purpose because Isabelle smiled at him. "I am Simon Lewis – Nightmarebuster. I'm afraid of no nightmare." He was pretty sure Izzy didn't get the Ghostbuster-Reference. She didn't have to, though, she was already smiling at him with that sparkle in her eyes he loved so much.

He liked to think that she only had that sparkle, when she looked at him but he didn't know if that was true. He had never seen her with any of the other boyfriends. Or: Any of her boyfriends. No _other_. They still weren't dating anymore, a small but very important detail, he kept forgetting about. Maybe because she acted so much like they were – and therefore, so did he.

"As long as I'm around, no nightmare will dare to even come near you."

"Well... Let's test that theory, shall we?" she said and laid down on the bed, pulling Simon down with her. This time, she didn't rest her head on his chest, but she was faced toward Simon and kept looking at him. In this moment she seemed to be perfectly fine and maybe she even was – but that didn't change the fact that what had happened was still hovering over them.

Like an upcoming storm.

: : : : : : :

Isabelle had been awake for a while now but didn't open her eyes. She felt Simon was still lying next to her, even though he didn't give warmth off, and she took comfort in that. Just being close to Simon somehow seemed to help her heal.

When she finally opened her eyes, Simon was already awake as well (she didn't know if he had slept at all) and looking at her. And the way he did, it made her feel so... loved. "Hey" she said after a while of just looking at him.

He softly smiled at her. "Finally. I thought you were going to sleep forever... of course _that way_ I would have gotten to see if a kiss truly wakes up a Sleeping Beauty."

This time she actually knew was he was talking about – Fairytales she knew. "It would have." she said, well knowing, that it took a True Loves Kiss to wake up the Sleeping Beauty.

He seemed surprised but then cleared this throat. "So. What did you dream about?"

"Absolutely... nothing." It was true. Up until now Izzy hadn't realized it but her sleep had been completely dreamless.

"And that's a bad thing, because...?" Why was he always able to see right through her?

She shrugged her shoulders. "It's just weird. I mean, I must have dreamt something, it's impossible to dream nothing... and I always remember. I have a rune for that."

Simon frowned. "Why do you have a rune for remembering your dreams?"

"Most Shadowhunters do. Dreams are a direct window to your subconsciousness and when you remember you learn a lot about yourself. Things you would have never noticed when you're awake." This really worried her.

For a moment Simon looked worried as well, but then he said: "To be honest I'm rather glad I don't remember every dream. For me, this would just mean _more_ standing naked in front of the entire school."

Despite her worries Isabelle smiled and added playfully: "Maybe I should find a way to see _that_ dream. Sounds very entertaining."

"As much fun as sharing my most embarrassing dream with you sounds, I-" he broke off and startled. His fangs had come out and hurt cut his lip. "Damn it."

Isabelle frowned. "You're hungry."

"Yeah, well... I don't really have any blood here. I should have thought of bringing something with me from Jordan's place."

She bit her lip and hesitated. Usually she would have offered him to drink her blood again, but as much as Isabelle wanted things to be normal, they weren't. She managed to be close to Simon and having him touch her without panicking. But that was it. The reason why she had enjoyed him biting her before wasn't because she was weird, like she had told him. Never had she had let a Vampire bite her before and she had had Vampire-Boyfriends before. To her a bite was almost as intimate as sex – maybe even more. And she was scared to let someone, even Simon, get this close to her again just now.

Nevertheless, she needed to get over this at _some_ point, right? She decided to start now. "You could drink my blood again."

She must have sounded as uncertain as she was, because Simon said: "Izzy... no." Which were also the only words he was able to speak, because he didn't seem to be able to get his fangs under control.

"Your fangs say otherwise." She sat up. "Come on now. Do it. I'll be fine." She wasn't sure if she was going to be fine, but she refused to not-be-fine. Therefore she had to be.

He sat up as well. "You really have problems with the word _no_, don't you?"

This time he was dead serious. He wasn't going to bite her, because he knew it would be too much for her. Well, that was too bad, because as scared as she was, her stubbornness was much greater. Without saying another word she got up from the bed and walked out of his room. When she returned she had a knife in her hands.

Simon's eyes widened and he stood up but was walking away from her. He obviously had an idea of what she was going to do. "Isabelle... don't..."

"Oh, yes." she simply said, put the knife to her neck and cut herself just a little bit. It didn't hurt much but it was enough for some blood to drip out of it. She then threw the knife away and walked toward Simon.

"You're crazy!" he said, still trying to resist and staying away from her.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I prefer determined." When she reached him she placed one hand on his chest (it was almost as if she needed to check that he was the real Simon, every five minutes). She then touched the blood on her neck and placed her fingers on his lips. It didn't even take a second for Simon to break down after tasting her blood. He took her by her shoulders, swirled her around and pressed her against the wall, sinking is teeth into her neck. At first Isabelle felt the urge to push him away and even yell at him to stop, that she'd been wrong and it was too much... but the urge faded quickly and after that she even found the strength to enjoy it.

To her surprise Simon backed away again very quickly. He couldn't have possibly drunken nearly enough. When she saw that it was Simon who looked scared now she frowned. "What's wrong?" she asked.

At first Simon didn't answer. He simply stared at her in horror.

"Simon! We've been over this! No more _protecting me_, remember? Tell me what's wrong!"

"It's... you... you taste different."

"Wait, that's it?" She calmed down a little bit. "I guess that's possible, I mean I didn't eat or drink much since yesterday."

Simon, however, was nowhere even _near_ calm. "No, you don't get it. I know that taste. It's... Isabelle, your blood tastes like _his_. Like _Sebastian's_ blood."

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I am so sorry... I simply can't resist a good cliffhanger, when I see one lol  
I will update as soon as I can, I promise :) In the meantime please remember to leave a Review^^


	9. Gone

Uhm. Wow? Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! It's fantastic to see that the cliffhanger did exactly what it was supposed to do xD

**ICraveYou -** You think you know, huh? Well, you might want to think again lol  
**ilyreid -** lol Well they did have a sweet moment :) But what the blood in her system means, I don't know, keep reading? ;)  
**RonaldGarcia91 -** Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe it's even something entirely different ;)  
**AlejandraMartinez -** "Eww" covers it pretty good I think. I really didn't want to be Simon in that last scene.  
**Lily1111 -** I'm always trying to :)  
**musicules1923 -** lool I nearly laughed out loud when I read the beginning of your review (considering I was at work that would have been hard to explain xD). Thank you soo much! I'm glad I found the right amount :) Refering to your question, I'll have to go with "Maybe, Maybe not" again ;)  
**TheLittleRoguex -** I understand why you would think that^^ Can I ask what changed your mind?  
**Whip and Fangs -** Aww I'm so glad you are so exited over this fic!

Okay, so this chapter is like really really long. I had trouble to stop writing this time xD Anyway I hope you enjoy it! Things are going to take a different direction from now on.

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**CITY OF CRYING ANGELS  
chapter nine: Gone  
**

Simon felt the urge to throw up and Isabelle, by the look of her face, didn't seem to be far behind him on that matter.

"That's... impossible." she said but swallowed hard.

"I know but... it's true. I could never forget the way his blood tasted and right now your's tastes just like that. I mean, not completely, obviously... but it's definitely there."

Isabelle frowned and looked disgusted. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

_Tell me about it_, Simon thought but since this wouldn't help the situation he kept it to himself. Instead he said: "We have to tell Magnus."

"Why, because he's your answer to everything?" Isabelle snapped at him.

"Uhm..." He sensed this was one of those situations where there was not right answer. He could either go with wrong or really wrong. "Kind of, yeah. Why is this bothering you all over sudden?"

She took a deep breath, ran her hands through her hair and started pacing through the room. "It doesn't... I'm sorry. I don't know why I said that. I just... don't understand any of this." When she stopped pacing around she sat down on his the edge of his bed and buried her face in her hands.

Simon sat next to her and put an arm around her. "I don't understand it either. But we're going to figure this out. Of course when I say _we_ I mean Magnus." Something was happening to Isabelle, that bastard was responsible for it and it needed to stop!

When Simon thought about what to do next when his phone started ringing. He got up, walked over to his nightstand and picked up. "Hello?"

"Wake me up before you go go." Ah... Magnus obviously had decided to spare Simon from actually singing and had just spoken the words.

He wasn't all too sure what he was supposed to say in response, all they had talked about was what Magnus would say. Therefore he went for: "'cause... I'm not planning on... going solo?"

Isabelle looked up and her expression made it pretty clear that she was very much questioning his sanity right now. Simon helplessly shrugged his shoulders while Magnus said: "Remind me to check your brain some time. Something is seriously wrong with it."

"_I _wasn't the one who suggested _WHAM_ as a secret code!"

"It's not my fault your taste in music is rotten."

"Taste in music or in George Michael?"

When Magnus spoke Simon heard that he had a grin on his lips. "Give me _some_ credit, will you?" The grin then vanished. "I just wanted to tell you, Alec and I are going to drop by in a couple of minutes. Alec has found a solution to the Jace-Sebastian-Problem." he sounded very proud as he said that, because Alec seemed to have figured all of that out.

"Seriously?" Simon almost felt his heart beating faster in excitement – this must have been the same thing when people had phantom limb pains. Feeling something that was definitely not there.

"Do you really think I would joke about something like that? There is, however, a small catch to the plan, you see..."

This didn't sound too good, Simon thought. "Which is...?"

"It might kill you. For good, this time."

: : : : : :

"You really need to work on your definition of a _small_ catch!" Simon said as soon as Magnus and Alec arrived. He tried to ignore the alarm they triggered but it was very hard to not press his hands against his ears – which, of course, would be pointless, since the alarm was inside his head.

"I don't have to work on anything. I am perfection as it is. And since I have not told you everything yet, I ask you calm down and maybe offer us some seats. Up until now you haven't been the greatest host."

They all sat down at the kitchen and Simon tried to ignore that fact that Alec kept looking around with a look on his face that seemed to say _And People live here? On purpose?_ Sometimes he really didn't think he liked him. When Isabelle came in his feelings toward Alec turned to sympathy. Alec got up immediately, walking over to his sister. "Izzy... how are you?"

But all she managed to do was to give him the hint of a smile. "Fine." She sat down and left Alec behind, like he was some kind of idiot. When he turned around Simon tried very hard to ignore the hurt-puppy-expression Alec had going on now. He of course failed – it was conspicuous.

"Before I forget" Magnus said, got up and gave Simon a bag. "Jordan dropped this off earlier. It's the blood you still had in his apartment. He though you might need it and I agree. You don't look too healthy." Simon nodded but said nothing. He couldn't even thank him, because he couldn't help the thought that the reason he didn't look to healthy was because of what he had just discovered about Isabelle's blood. He wished he'd had an opportunity of talking to Magnus in private to tell him about the blood thing. To be honest, he wanted Alec to know it, too... but there wasn't a way to tell him that without telling him everything and Isabelle didn't want that.

Simon sat down next to Isabelle when Magnus started talking. "Alright. Like I already told you, my super intelligent and attractive boyfriend", Magnus began but Alec didn't blush, as Simon half expected. In fact Alec didn't even appear to pay attention to Magnus at all, he seemed pissed off. "has found a way of cutting the umbilical cord between Jace and Sebastian. We have re-thought the idea of summoning an Angel. Now, it is impossible for at least three of us to survive such a thing. But then there's you" he looked at Simon, who froze. "And your Mark of Cain." now he pointed to his forehead and all over sudden Simon felt like his forehead was a person by itself.

"No!" Isabelle protested. "That's insane! We don't know if the Mark of Cain will protect him against an actual Angel! Alec, how can you even suggest that?"

"Because it's the only way we have to get our hands on a weapon that might separate Jace from Sebastian!"

"Might! _Might_, Alec, that's exactly it! There's no guarantee the Angel will even help us!"

While Isabelle got back to her old self and fought with Alec Simon had fallen silent and lost on his thoughts. It wasn't until Magnus said: "What do you think about this?" when he looked up again.

"He thinks it's suicide." Isabelle answered for him.

"And I think he can speak for himself." Magnus said.

There was a moment of silence when everyone was waiting for Simon to say something. "I... I think that's a good idea." Isabelle gasped but before she could say anything he turned to her and added: "Iz, it's not suicide. Maybe a little world-wearly, insane, _attempted_ suicide at most. But the Mark has protected me against everything else so far."

"Actually" Magnus tossed in. "she has a point. The Mark is a protection of Heaven, I can't guarantee you that it will protect you _against_ Heaven. In fact I can't even tell you I'm sure it will. It's 50/50 really."

Simon took a deep breath – which he didn't even notice this time – before he said: "Well... if we get the weapon we can kill Sebastian with, this nightmare will be over. If we don't get it Sebastian is going to win and in the long run I am going to die anyway, right? So... 50 is really better than zero. I'll do it."

He felt Isabelle jerking beside him but didn't dare to look at her.

Magnus smiled. "I'm proud of you, Sawyer."

Without another word Isabelle took Simon by his arm, forced him to stand up and nearly pushed him out of the kitchen and back into his room.

The moment the door closed Isabelle turned around, had her arms crossed and asked: "Are you doing this because of what he did?"

"Magnus? Yes, I think it's really nice of him to bring me the blood. I figured I'd pay him back by risking my life. – No, Isabelle, this is _not_ because of what Sebastian did! I mean, sure, it doesn't exactly make me _not_ want to do it either, but it's not the reason."

"Then why?"

"Because of the reason I said. There's a bigger picture here, Izzy. If we don't stop Sebastian there's not telling how many will die. We have a chance to find something that can kill him without killing Jace. We have to take it."

"You're starting to sound like Jace. I want to kill Sebastian as well but not at the expense of you!"

Simon suddenly felt really bad about doing a good thing. Looking at Isabelle made it feel like this was actually insane and the worst decision he could have made. He'd leave her alone. If the Mark didn't work and the Angel decided he didn't like him he'd leave Isabelle alone with… all of this. He wasn't worried about dying (at least not as much as one would assume), he was worried how Izzy would handle it, especially after everything she's been through already. She'd said it herself – in this situation he was the only one who kept her from falling apart. Though he was sure, if she told her brother, he'd be able to help her as well.

As she looked at him her eyes got a certain shine. Simon walked over to her and, resisting the urge to take her into his arms, ended up placing his hands on her arms. "I'm not half as suicidal as Jace, believe me. But from all of us I am the only one who has a real chance of surviving this. It has to be me."

Isabelle swallowed. He knew that understanding the situation wasn't the problem here – it was accepting that Simon might die. He wasn't too keen of that thought either but it was a risk he had to take. "If something happens to you I'm going to kick your ass."

Simon lightly smiled. "Knock yourself out."

: : : : : :

"I'm still not sure you should be here." Alec said, looking at Isabelle.

They were standing in front of Luce's farm house. After Simon had drunken some blood Magnus had created a portal to bring them here. The lake near to it was big enough to summon an Angel, plus, there weren't many people living in this area. It was the perfect place, but even the fact that he knew this area very well didn't make him feel better about what he was going to do. He was scared like hell... he didn't admit this to anyone but he was. Of course he was, he was going to summon an Angel for crying out loud!

"Considering what happened the last time you left me behind I don't really care about what you're sure of." Isabelle snapped at her brother and for a moment Simon thought Alec would fall into silence. To his surprise, he didn't. He actually got mad.

"You won't even tell me what happened! You tell everyone but me! I'm not stupid, Isabelle, I know you told Simon and even Magnus! I'm you're _brother_ and I'm the only one you don't tell!"

Isabelle looked at him with a steady face and Simon forgot about the book in his hands. Magnus, who had started to explain to him what to do about a minute ago, looked taken aback, he might have forgotten about Simon completely. He obviously hadn't known that Alec had figured out he knew about what happened to Isabelle until now. Of course, that did explain Alec's mood. They both knew why Isabelle couldn't tell Alec of all people but if they were to say something Izzy would kill them before the Angel got a shot.

"Oh, are you feeling left out? I'm so sorry for you. That must be so awful." Isabelle said and Simon frowned. Why was she this mean to him?

He had a feeling Isabelle was about to say something she'd regret later, therefore he decided to let everyone know he was still there. The best way to do his was always to make a bad joke. Looking at the book again he said: "I don't know about this. It looks very complicated. Is there a chance I'll end up in Knockturn Alley or something when I get it wrong?"

Magnus seemed glad for the change of topic. "What are you asking me for, I've never used it myself. I don't know anyone who has either."

"So how do you even know it'll work?"

"Huh. Good point."

Simon wasn't sure if he was kidding or not but he didn't dare to ask. He had also given up the hope to find a moment to talk to Magnus alone, about Isabelle's blood. Leaving her and Alec alone like this might end bad.

"Alright... I'm off then."

Isabelle looked at him again, hesitated for a moment and then walked over to him. "I still can't say I'm happy you're doing this." she said in a monotone voice. "But get that weapon. We need it."

He nodded. "I know." He was about to promise it to her he didn't want to make a promise he might not be able to keep.

Simon tried to give her an encouraging smile but knew it came out nervous, when he turned around to walk away. Isabelle suddenly grabbed his arm – so hard, it actually hurt – and looked at him out of scared eyes. Very scared. Panicked, really.

"Simon, _don't_-" She broke off. The panic in her eyes was gone – but there was confusion in his.

"Izzy?" he asked.

She looked at him for a moment, as if she was confused herself but recovered quickly and lightly smiled "I'm fine. You can go."

This time he hesitated.

"I'm not alone. I will be okay... the sooner you leave the sooner you'll be back."

Magnus stepped forward and Simon managed to look away from Izzy. Seeing him nodding made him feel a bit better about leaving her behind. Also, he saw respect in Magnus' eyes. That wasn't something you saw everyday, but of course the Magnus didn't bring himself to say something meaningful. All he said was: "Try not to die."

Alec, still worked up, said: "And don't make any jokes. I'm not sure the Angel will get your humor."

"Well, if he's anything like you he won't."

"I highly doubt Angel's are gay and too chicken to come out for 18 years." said Isabelle and if Simon didn't knew better he'd think she said that only to hurt her brother, but she'd never do that. Of course, intention or not, Alec was obviously hurt by that and Isabelle didn't even look at him.

Simon felt bad for leaving the group behind like this but he was counting on Magnus to defuse the tension between the siblings. If anyone could do it it was Magnus – but then again, Alec seemed to be mad at him as well. That had been foreseeable, but still, Simon felt bad for Magnus. All he had been doing was respecting Isabelle's wishes, as had Simon. They still both did, none of them had told Alec what'd happened.

Right now, however, he had other problems to worry about. He stepped into the lake and did as Magnus had told him. It was all over very quickly and afterwards Simon wasn't sure he remembered all too much of it... looking back it seemed like a dream or a hallucination. The Angel, Raziel, had appeared and lectured him about summoning him. But they had come to an agreement – Raziel would give him the sword of the Angel Raphael, which would enable them to kill Sebastian without hurting Jace, if Simon gave up the Mark of Cain. Simon had been paralyzed by fear but had taken the offer. What the Angel hadn't mentioned, of course, was that he'd knock him off his feet taking away the Mark. When Simon woke up Raziel was gone but, as promised, he had left a sword with him.

"Simon!" It was Isabelle. He sat up and saw her running towards him. "It worked! You've got it!"

Something was wrong about this. Where were Alec and Magnus? And Isabelle asked him about the sword when he had just been knocked out by an Angel, he could have been dead. "Yeah... it did." He stood up, holding on the sword. "I'm fine, by the way."

Isabelle stopped and gave him a smile. "Yes, I can see that. That's great. But what happened? Why did he attack you?"

"He-" Simon hesitated. Something was holding him back to tell Izzy about the Mark. She wouldn't be able to see it through his hair – or more likely, to _not _see it – therefore he'd have to tell her. "He wasn't happy that a Downworlder dared to summon him. And I have to say, message received..." _That_ was true. Every bone in his body seemed to hurt (if bones _could_ hurt but it sure felt like it).

"Well, you're alive. That's what matters. Can I see it?"

He swallowed. "Why?"

"Duh – because I've never seen an Angel's sword for real?"

There was nothing right about Isabelle right now. It made him feel sick inside to even talk to her but he couldn't quite tell why... was it the blood? Was it making her act this way? "Where are the others?"

"Who?"

"Uhm... you're brother and his boyfriend?"

"Oh. They went inside the house to get some stuff."

"What stuff?"

For a very long moment Isabelle simply looked at him and then – then it wasn't Isabelle anymore. Well, it was, of course, but it wasn't. It was hard to explain but her whole expression changed and she stopped trying to pretend to be _his_ Izzy. Who, right now, she wasn't.

She exhaled in annoyance. "You ask way too many questions." Even her voice sounded different and he now realized that she had been different ever since they had arrived here. That was what had been bothering him about her before...

"You know. This could have been much easier. For the both of us."

Simon backed away from her. His instincts told him she was going to attack him. Which, of course, would be stupid, since she thought he still had the Mark. "What do you care? You're not Isabelle!"

"Oh, but I am. Well – sort of."

Suddenly – Simon didn't even know what was happened, he felt the sword being taken from him. He didn't see who did it at first, but the person carefully avoided trying to hurt him at any time but also didn't give him chance to defend the sword. It was a perfect attack, which wasn't an attack and when Simon turned around he knew how that was possible.

"Jace!" his voice was barely a whisper but walking over to Isabelle, Jace ignored him completely.

He looked at Isabelle with the most loving expression on his face. "Izzy..."

Isabelle smiled at him. "Jace. It's good to see you again." He hugged her and Simon saw that the look on her face went cold and calculating, the moment Jace couldn't see it anymore.

"You're him?" Simon asked Isabelle and they parted. "Sebastian?"

She laughed. It was a cold and mocking laugh. "And here I thought you'd be smart enough to tell a boy from a girl." She then turned to Jace. "You're here to take me home, aren't you?"

Jace nodded and took her hand. "Yes. Clary is really looking forward to see you!"

Simon's stomach ached by the mention of Clary and the thought of Isabelle going to Sebastian right now. Even if he knew it wasn't his Izzy anymore.

"Clary would be even more thrilled to see _me_." he said and Jace looked at him, honestly confused.

"We didn't think you'd want to come."

"He doesn't." Isabelle said. "You know how he is... he follows me around everywhere. Like a puppy." She looked at Simon out of the coldest eyes and this time he really thought he might vomit.

Jace shrugged his shoulders. "You can't come. I'm sorry, Simon. But I'll tell Clary you said hi!"

"I'd rather you tell her I said that I promise to find and kill Sebastian. And that I stopped caring whether or not it'll effect _you_ as well. " Simon wasn't sure if he really thought so but right now in this moment – he meant it. "He took away Clary. He took away Isabelle. I will not let this stand. That's a promise."

"That's a _joke_!" Isabelle said. "Even if you were able to find him, there's nothing you could do. You're nothing but a puppet, Simon. You all are. Up until now you've all done exactly what he had wanted you to do. And that won't change. No matter what you do... what _brilliant_ plan you make up to defeat him – it's what he wants you to come up with. Keep that in mind. He's always ten steps ahead of you. If you accept that and walk away from all of this... you might even survive."

He snorted. "Like you care."

There was a long pause in which Jace used some glittering powder and a rune to create a portal. Simon didn't even ask how that was possible... he was tired of asking questions he would never get an answer to.

"I do." she finally said and stepped into the portal. It closed, after Jace went through, leaving Simon behind, who fell down on his knees, staring helplessly at the place where the portal had been.

Isabelle was gone.

* * *

The story's hit a pretty dark point, I know :( YES, it breaks my heart as well...  
Bright side: We've reached the main plot by now which means now Team Good can start working on a way to get out of it. Let's hope they find it, hm?

Please remember to leave a review!


	10. Tears of an Angel

**musicrules1923 -** Aww thank you so much! So glad you like it so far :) Well, Cliffhangers make things interesting but yes, I admit - I'm addicted to them xD  
**ilyreid -** I know, right? It broke my heart, too.  
**Guest -** Thanks! I'm always trying to :)  
**RonaldGarcia91 -** Well, Clary may have her own problems very soon. Who knows, maybe even in this chapter? ;)  
**Whip and Fangs -** Simon will definitely not just sit there and do nothing :)  
**axes tridents and snares -** Thanks, dude ^^ Well, there was _some_ Jaia in the earlier chapters. A tiny tiny bit xD But I don't think I have time to add more of them. I have so much planned out already and there's no place for them, at least not with a big storyline. They will get mentioned though ;)

It's a good thing most of you seem you enjoy long chapters, because this one is very long as well, but not quite as the last one.  
Also this time, I'm throwing _a lot_ of information out there. I hope it is as good to understand outside my head, as it is inside of it xD

* * *

**CITY OF CRYING ANGELS  
chapter ten: Tears of an Angel  
**

"MAGNUS? ALEC?" Simon yelled as he ran back to the place where he had left them before but there was no sign of them – neither dead nor alive. He couldn't possibly leave without them but if Isabelle, or… _whoever_ that had been, had dragged them some place, how was he suppose to find them? He was a Vampire, not a damn bloodhound.

That was a good point, though – he didn't smell any blood. Chances were good that they were still alive. He decided to check the one place Isabelle had mentioned; the house. Simon went inside and found Magnus bending over an unconscious Alec. He held his hands over Alec's chest and blue sparks were coming out of his fingertips.

"Why didn't you answer me? I thought you might be dead!" Simon said with anger but also relief.

"I'm a little busy at the moment." Magnus was very distant, he seemed to focus on Alec. There wasn't any blood, his sense of smell had been right about that, but he sure as hell didn't take a nap either.

"What happened here?"

"Oh, you know, nothing much. Nearly got killed by some demon who possessed Isabelle. We retrieved into the house. I managed to keep her out but she used her power to squeeze Alec's heart for a while. Right now I'm keeping him alive but if I can't manage to convince his heart to start beating on it's own again…" he swallowed. "I can't do this forever."

Simon needed to hear more about the possession, as Magnus put it, but he was silent. The only thing he could do to help right now was to leave Magnus alone. He had a feeling magic was more effective than chest compression.

After a while Magnus looked over to him for just a moment. "The sword?" he asked but Simon just shook his head. He could see Magnus pressing his teeth together, taking a deep breath but then he turned to Alec again. It felt like hours past, although it couldn't have been more than a minute or two. But then-

Alec soaked in a lot of air and jerked into a sitting position. Magnus exhaled in relief, closing his eyes.

"What happened?" Alec asked in confusion.

"You nearly died. Again. I saved you. Again. I have to tell you, if you're trying to keep our relationship interesting, there's really no need. Things are interesting enough as they are."

Alec blinked and breathed heavily. After a while he mumbled "Isabelle…" Simon could basically see his memories coming back and lowered his head. He felt like he was going insane by just sitting here and waiting 'till it would finally be okay to ask at least some of the million questions he had in mind but he knew he had to give Alec a moment. Simon was in love with Izzy, but he'd only known her for a couple of months. Alec had known Isabelle her entire life, had grown up with her… it was hard to tell which one of them felt worse.

"That wasn't Isabelle." Magnus finally said, gave Alec a gentle smile and then walked over to let himself fall on the sofa. He was beat but nevertheless, Simon took that as a sign that the no-question-time was now over. It had to be over.

"Yeah, about that – you mentioned something about a possession earlier?"

"Yes. I believe a demon has taken over Isabelle's body."

"Like Sebastian did with Jace?"

"No. That is not a possession, we've been over this. Seriously, Shawn, you need to pay attention at the meetings. There will be tests. And if you fail them you'll pay with your life."

"Hold on", Alec said and stood up. "Demons can't possess a Shadowhunter just like that. It needs a lot of preparing and rituals..."

"What makes you so sure she's possessed anyway? Couldn't it be the same deal like it is with Jace?" Simon added.

"Because, right before you left to summon the Angel, she talked to you. The real Isabelle."

Simon went back for a moment. _"Simon, don't"_ she'd said. There had been so much fear in her eyes but he hadn't realized what she'd been afraid of. It hadn't been the Angel. It had been the fear that the Demon who'd taken over her, would take the sword, like it had. And that he would kill them – which, he almost had.

"She was back for just a second." It was almost like Magnus' voice had woken Simon up. "But we didn't understand it."

Simon let himself fall on an armchair. "We've gotten pretty good at not seeing when something's wrong with her…"

Magnus looked at him. "Let us know when you're depression is over, will you? We have more pressuring issues to discuss than how idiotic we all are. We can all moan over that when this is over."

"That's right. Like for example _what_ demon has taken over her, or why I am the only one who seems to think it's weird that she got possessed in the first place." Alec said.

Magnus sighted. "That's because you don't know everything. Isabelle didn't want us to tell you but-"

"Well, Isabelle isn't here anymore. And we both know what happens when one is possessed, so I suggest you tell me everything now."

Simon felt another rush of fear. "What happens when one is possessed?" He wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer.

"Their souls get... squashed. Until they die. A Mundane soul would die at once, a Shadowhunter can take it for a couple of days but in the end death is inevitable."

And then Simon had to listen to the reason why _John Tucker must die_ got the wrong name in the movie title for the third time. It should really be _Sebastian must die_. Magnus told everything as short and sensitive as possible but Alec, of course, had trouble to stay calm. As Simon heard it again he understood why Magnus seemed to think that Isabelle could easily be possessed. The physical drama and the mark on her body could be the preparation Alec had talked about before.

When Magnus was finished there was a moment of silence. It was Alec who soon broke it: "Do you know what the mark meant by now?"

"No. The longer I think about it the more sure I am that I've seen it before. I know it. But it's like something inside my head is blocking my memories of it. That's why I didn't even regocnize it the first time I saw it."

As Magnus said that Simon got a weird feeling, almost like a déjà vu. He felt the same way about the mark but hadn't even realized it before.

"Sounds familiar?" Magnus asked but Simon didn't answer. Why would the both of them know it but neither could remember where from or what it meant?

"What did it look like?" Alec demanded.

Magnus didn't argue and turned to Simon. "Go and fetch me paper and a pencil."

He didn't like the commanding voice but he was the only one who knew his way around the house, so he did as he was told. Magnus drew the mark and the feeling came over Simon again. It felt dark but also familiar and so very much frightening. When he'd seen it on Izzy's body he'd felt the same fear but he thought it was because it was on the body of the girl he loved. He'd been wrong. It was the mark itself.

Alec looked just as pale as Simon felt like. "You should have told me." He said after staring at it for a while.

"Do you know what it is?" Simon asked.

It was almost as if Alec hadn't heard him at all. This time, however, Simon didn't think it was personal. He seemed to be in shock. "By the Angel, you should have told me…"

Magnus took Alec's hand into his, which seemed to wake him up. He looked at his boyfriend, his eyes still wide with shock. "You don't recognize it because no Downworlder is supposed to. You somehow know and respect it but could never tell who it belongs to. This is one of Lilith's marks." He looked at the drawing again.

"Lilith has possessed Isabelle."

: : : : : :

When Clary heard a noise at the door she sat up in her bed. She hadn't been sleeping anyway. The door was being unlocked. Ever since she'd wandered around and overheard Sebastian talking to the Seelie Queen she'd been forbidden to leave her room alone (of course Jace believed it was for her own protection). She'd become not just a prisoner of the apartment but of the room, that's been assigned to her.

Up until now the door had only been unlocked so she could eat something or use the bathroom. Since she'd already eaten and hadn't asked to go to the bathroom she got scared.

When the door swung open she saw the most unsettling image – Jace, with a bright, happy grin on his face. Her heart twisted. It was still always so great to see him smiling but since he was under Sebastian's influence his excitement couldn't be good. "Clary! Come on! Izzy's here. She wants to see you."

Clary hated that she got excited over that as well but she also felt sick. Sebastian now had Isabelle as well... but maybe this could turn out to be a good thing for her. Maybe they could find a way out of here together. Clary couldn't do any good as long she was here, she saw that now, she couldn't even get through to _her_ Jace. But because the two of them could easily work together Clary was suspicious that she was allowed to see Isabelle.

As she climbed off her bed she asked: "Are you sure it's okay if I go and see her? Wouldn't Sebastian mind?"

"Oh no, don't worry. He was the one to suggest I come and get you. He also said he had a gift for you. Come on, now!" Jace took her hand and gently pulled Clary after him, who had started to panic at the word _gift_.

"D-do you have any idea what it is? The gift?"

"No, he didn't tell me. He only said it would be good for the two of us."

Clary swallowed hard. If Sebastian said _good_ it would only mean _really really bad_…

"Oh, by the way: Simon says hi."

She blinked and stopped walking. Unfortunately Jace didn't notice and kept dragging her after him, which nearly caused her to fall down. "You saw Simon?"

"Yes, when I picked up Isabelle."

Instead of _Is he still alive?_ She managed asking: "How is he?"

"Fine, I think. We didn't get to talk much."

Clary bit her lip. When it was a relief to know that Simon seemed to be alright she had the feeling that Jace wasn't telling her everything. But what did she expect, really? He only did like Sebastian told him to.

They walked the rest of the way in silence and Clary was getting more nervous by the second. Jace finally stopped in front of the living room and knocked (Clary couldn't help thinking _Like Jace would ever knock..._). Sebastian called them in and Jace opened the door.

There she was. Isabelle was sitting on the couch with a glass in her hand, half empty, but Clary couldn't tell what she was drinking.

"Clary – please, come in. Jace, you can leave." said Sebastian. When Jace looked disappointed he added: "You will get them back soon, brother, I promise." probably referring to Clary and Isabelle.

Speaking about Isabelle... Clary could hardly imagine the girl sitting on the couch was her. It looked like her but she way she sat there and looked at her... Clary couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something was different about her.

Still, she asked: "Isabelle?"

The girl smiled and said: "Hello Clary."

Clary felt a rush of disappointed. She had really thought Isabelle would be... herself. But she seemed to be under Sebastian's influence, just like Jace. When she felt a hand on her spine she jerked and saw that Sebastian was standing beside her – she hadn't even noticed him.

"Please, have a seat." he gestured to the spot next to the Izzy. "I'm sure you would like to talk to Isabelle."

"Yes, I would." Clary responded. "Too bad I can't see her anywhere."

Sebastian smiled but continued to gesture her to sit. Eventually she did but made sure to keep as much distance to Isabelle as possible.

"Why am I here?" she asked.

"Can't a brother call his sister to him just to spend some time with her?"

"A brother – yes. But I don't have one. All I have is a murderer who killed by brother before he was even born."

He sighted. "You aren't even trying. Why can't you at least _try_ to love me, Clary?"

If she didn't know better she would almost belief his act. "There is one thing you could to, that could make me try to love you." she said cold and thought she saw a flicker of hope in his eyes.

"What?" he asked.

Clary swallowed but managed to keep a steady face, even being scared as she was. "Die."

For a moment he looked at her with a frozen expression. Then, suddenly, he slapped the glass out of her hand and grabbed her wrists so hard she thought they might burst, when-

"Jonathan!"

It was Isabelle. She didn't yell but there was a superior tone in her voice that almost made Clary want to apologize to her, even though she was mad with Sebastian. But why did she call him Jonathan? How many people did that?

Sebastian let go of Clary immediately and stepped away from her, running his hands through his hair.

Isabelle stood up and suddenly the glass in her hand had vanished – now she was holding the Mortal Cup. "Contain yourself!" she kept reproaching Sebastian and then turned to Clary. "You know what that is, don't you?"

Clary hesitated but finally said: "The Mortal Cup."

"That's right. We would like you to drink from it."

Clary frowned. "Why? I already am a Shadowhunter."

"Of course you are. We just want to check something." She handed Clary the Cup. "Come on, now. What's the worst that could happen?"

: : : : : :

"How is that possible? Lilith is gone…"

"You can't kill Lilith. Not really. She was going to come back eventually, but it should have taken her much much longer to regenerate…" Alec said.

"Sebastian helped her to possess Isabelle… technically she's not back yet. She's just using a very lifelike phone." Magnus replied.

"Instead of making jokes, shouldn't we be talking about how to get her out of Isabelle's body again?" Never had Simon reproached Magnus (or anyone, when it came to jokes), but Isabelle was as good as dead, if there was ever a time not to joke it was now. He knew Magnus didn't mean any harm by it, it was just who he was, but it still hurt.

When Alec and Magnus shared a concerned look Simon froze. "What? What is it?"

"It's…" Alec was obviously fighting tears to come up. "You can exercise a demon from a human body. But a great demon, like Lilith… it's not possible."

"Now that", Magnus said. "_might_ not be entirely true."

Alec turned around. "What are you talking about? No one has ever been able to do anything like this. So many people have died."

"Just because no one has doesn't mean it's not possible." Before Simon could get too exited, Magnus turned to him. "Easy there, Sherman, it doesn't exactly mean it is possible, either." Magnus took a deep breath. "There's a legend. Well, not so much a legend, more like a story. It is told that before this world, there was another. But something has gone terribly, terribly wrong... God had cried over his creation, which caused the Big Bang to destroy everything – and recreate the universe into it's true form. A new beginning. When God then created the Angels he gave every one of them a part of himself, which included the power to recreate. The story teaches us that tears of an Angel can transform anything back into it's true nature."

There was a moment of silence. It took Alec a while to ask: "And you think it may turn Isabelle back as well? And Jace?"

"Could be." Magnus said, but sounded not even partly convinced.

"What about Sebastian? He was a normal… fetus before Valentine gave his mother the demon blood, right?"

Simon blinked and got a bit angry. "Wait... now you want to _save_ him?"

Alec hesitated and took a deep breath. "I'm a Shadowhunter, Simon. If there's a chance to save a human being, or another Shadowhunter, I have to take it. It's my oath. After all he has only done any of those things because of what Valentine did to him."

Before Simon could yell at Alec Magnus said: "I'm not sure what would happen if we used it on Sebastian. Like you said, he has been compromised by demon blood when he was just a fetus. Maybe what he is now is considered to be his true form. The chance that the tears would work on Isabelle and Jace is higher, but still, no one has ever tried this before. The outcome would be unforeseeable."

"But there's a chance it could work?" Alec demanded.

"Obviously." This time Magnus seemed more sure. Well, at least the chance was real.

Still... Simon didn't get where he was going with this. "I'm sorry, but are you suggesting, that we summon the Angel again and get him to watch Titanic?" He wasn't even sure if he was kidding. "I mean, how are we going to get his tears?"

"We don't. Having seen what his tears had done before God made it so the Angels could never truly care. They don't have emotions like we do - they can't cry."

"And the point in telling us something we can't do is…?"

"Angel's can't cry. But once they've fallen, banned from heaven and bound to live on earth, there's a _chance_ they'll develop emotions and with them, the ability to cry."

Simon felt like Magnus had hit him over the head with something very hard. He couldn't possibly be serious. "Fallen Angels? You mean… demons? Pure evil? _Those_ Fallen Angels?"

Magnus shrugged his shoulders. "That's what the story tells us."

"Well… I'm sure they'll be glad to cry for us. You know, because they're always so helpful."

There was a moment of silence. Magnus then added: "Like I said, it's just a story. Which means it's about as reliable as Snow White or Little Red Riding Hood. Of course they are partly true… the question is, which parts – if any – of this little story are."

Alec lightly shook his head. "I'm not sure if anything is. I've never read anything about this. How do you even know that?"

"Someone once told it to me. And I'm afraid in order to find out what's true, we are going to have to talk to him."

Alec froze. "When you say _someone_… Do you mean-?"

"Yes." Magnus seemed very reluctant about what he was going to say. "Time to visit _Daddy_."

* * *

As you can see - my baby (this fanfic lol) is getting bigger and bigger.  
For those of you who are worried that this whole development will make the Sizzy-Sweetness disappear... let me quote Psych: Wait for iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit ;) (And review in the meantime, please? lol)


	11. Isabelle's warning

Okay, before I begin... HOW AMAZING WAS COMIC CON? Not like I was there or anything xD But I've been all over tumblr. I was fangirling over Malec so hard. It's such a shame that Jemima wasn't there though.

It took me a while to update and I apologize. But there was Comic Con (which has really just caused my whole brain to collapse) and also I had to learn the lesson in life that most people are greedy, untrustworthy and really just suck... Luckily I still have you guys to cheer me up :) You're so amazing! So many reviews for the last chapter, WOW!

**Guest - **And it's about to get even more intense!  
**mejillian -** Thank you :)  
**musicrules1923 -** I'm not sure if anyone in this fanfiction is having some fun at the moment lol But I agree with the Malec! Oh, I do hope I manage the balance between the couples and the main plot. Well, Titanic is the movie I think of when I think of sad movies, therefore with me it's always Titanic xD  
**guest2** - Thanks!  
**Blue Eyed Shadowhunter -** Here it is!  
**SIZZYsizzles -** Wow thank you so much! I'm not sure how long it's going to be. I mean I know what's going to happen but I don't know how many Chapters I'll need just now. Once I know I'll tell you.  
**RonaldGarcia91 -** Thanks! Great to see you're getting to much into this :)  
**ICraveYou -** Thanks. You'll get an answer on the Clary-thing in this chapter!  
**TheLittleRoguex -** Thank you! Always great to see I can surprise the readers.

There are some new POVs in this chapter. But there's a lot going on (and I mean a lot) and there was simply no way around it. Besides, I kinda like changing POVs. It makes things even more interesting. Read, what I consider to be interesting...

* * *

**CITY OF CRYING ANGELS**  
**chapter eleven: Isabelle's warning  
**

"I have a question." Clary said looking at the cup in her hands.

"What is it?" Isabelle asked.

Clary looked up at her. "Do I have _stupid_ written all over my forehead?" She probably did, because she had a pretty good feeling _not_ drinking it would get her killed and that could be looked at as stupid as well. However, she'd rather die than drink whatever this was.

Isabelle exhaled in frustration.

"I have no idea what this is supposed to do to me but I am _not_ drinking this!"

"You know." Isabelle said. "I would have liked it if you would have drunken it voluntarily. But we will force you, if we have to."

Clary snorted. "The hell you would have. You're demons. The both of you. You love to force people to do what you want. If you had them do it voluntarily you'd probably get bored!"

"Na na, Clary", Sebastian said and stepped besides Isabelle. "That's not true. I have wanted you to join me because you _wanted_ to join me all this time... after all you _are_ my sister and I value that. I would like you value it, too. Sadly you don't. And you haven't come around either. I knew, when you came here, that you would betray me, but I kept hoping that something would change your mind. That you'd come around and see things the way we do. Jace did."

"THE HELL HE DID!" Clary jumped up. She hadn't meant to yell but she couldn't help it. "This isn't Jace! You turned him into a spineless slave who would never question you! You-" she broke off. Suddenly she realized something. Her eyes went to the Cup in her hands and realized something. "You wanted me to come around on my own. But I didn't..." she frowned and looked up."That is what the Mortal Cup is going to do me. Isn't it? Coming around... It's going to turn me into a slave, just like Jace."

Sebastian shook his head. "First of all this isn't the Mortal Cup. Please don't insult it. It's called the Infernal Cup. And second of all, to be quite honest, we don't know if it'll work. As long as mother is still bound to Isabelle's body it _might_ work, but we don't know for sure. That's were you come in. We want to test if it'll work."

"M-...mother..." her eyes went back to Isabelle. "You're Lilith."

Lilith smiled. "Do you consider yourself smart, because you figured something out my son as practically told you?" She turned to Sebastian. "I'm glad you didn't pick her. It would have been dreadful being stuck in her body until my new one is ready."

Sebastian beamed, proudly that he (apparently) he had made the right decision.

"You didn't pick me." Clary said. "But the Seelie Queen wanted you to." she remembered the conversation she had overheard. The one that had got her grounded. "You picked... Isabelle. To be the host for Lilith."

Lilith laughed. "To come back to your earlier question, there might be something written on your forehead. It says: I like to talk about things I know nothing about."

"It's not a host. Well, not permanently at least-"

"Jonathan. Let's not spoil your sister by telling her everything just yet." Lilith said and Sebastian nodded. "You should go and give Jace his assignment."

"Assignment?" Clary asked and sounded as scared as she was. "What kind of assignment?"

Lilith signalled Sebastian to leave and he did. She then turned to Clary with a cold smile on Isabelle lips. Up until now Clary had thought she'd already seen Isabelle's expression when she was dismissive but she had been wrong. "The kind were people get killed. Well... not exactly _people_..."

Clary's mouth dropped open. "No... you... you can't! If he hurts anyone it's going to kill him inside!" _Her _Jace was still in there somewhere. And he would not be able to handle killing anyone innocent. Clary felt her eyes tearing up. "Please..."

For a moment it seemed like Lilith was thinking about it but something told Clary that it was just an act in order to toy with her. "I might call Jonathan back... if you do something for me."

Clary swallowed. She had a feeling she knew what that something was... "Drink from the Cup?"

A pleased smile. "There. I knew you must have had at least _one_ intelligent cell inside your red little head."

Her mind was racing. She needed to keep Jace from killing anyone and maybe the cup wouldn't even work, right? At least when Sebastian had been telling the truth. "If I do... you will not have Jace kill anyone?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe?" her voice was barely a whisper and a tear ran down her cheek. "That's what I'm supposed to rely on, a _maybe_?"

"At least that way poor Jace has a _chance_. But if you don't drink... he will _definitely_ kill someone."

Clary took a deep breath. Even though Lilith made it sound like it, there really was no choice here. Never would... never _could_ she risk Jace to ruin is life. One day he would be normal again, she had to believe that, and he would not be able to live with himself if he killed someone today.

_Jace_, she thought one more time and then drank from the cup.

: : : : : :

The group had decided to stay at Lukes house for a while. Except that really it had been Magnus, making the decision for the group. His powers needed to regenerate after going up against Lilith.

"She is not exactly _alive and kicking_... a demon possessing someone is never at his full power. But she's definitely _there and pricking_." he said. "And _pricking_ for Lilith, is already more powerful than you can imagine."

They had sat down in the living room and were discussing everything all over again.

"Why do you think she possessed Isabelle in the first place? I mean if she's not at her full power, that must piss her off." Simon said.

Magnus shrugged his shoulders. It was Alec, who answered, as usual when they were talking about Lilith. In this situation him paying attention in Shadowhunter-School (or whatever they went to) paid off. "She's not strong enough to come back on her own body just yet. It hasn't been long since she's been destroyed. But she wants to be here, for whatever reason... and I'm sure Sebastian was more than happy to help her. After all he thinks of her as his mother."

There was a moment of silence while Simon was chewing on his lower lip. There was something that still bothered him. Well, something aside from everything that already bothered him. "She said she cared for me. Lilith."

Magnus sighted. "Oh, don't tell me you're crushing on Lilith now. Because if any crush was _ever_ unhealthy - it's this one."

Simon rolled his eyes and shook his head. "What I _mean_ is... I believed her. I don't think she was lying. But why _would_ she care? I basically killed her the last time we met."

"Well, the possession is still very fresh. It usually takes a while for the feelings and thoughts of the possessed one to vanish completely. Until then the demon, even Lilith, has to fight against those feelings."

Alec and Simon both frowned. While Simon didn't know what do say Alec asked: "Are you saying that _right now_... Lilith is _in love_... with Simon?"

Magnus couldn't hold back an amused grin. "A very entertaining thought. But no. She's simply suffering of an _echo_ of Isabelle's feelings. For Simon, for you, for everyone Isabelle has feelings for. She would kill the both of you, if she had to, you shouldn't have any illusions about that. But until that echo has worn off, I think she'll try to at least avoid it. Isabelle's grief would get to her as well."

"But she tried to kill me. Almost succeeded, too..." Alec pointed out.

"I think with Lilith it's save to say that if she had _really_ tried to kill you - you'd be dead. I was there. She knew I would save your life. Attacking you was simply to get us out of the way, so she could get her hands on that sword."

"Well" Simon said bitterly. "Mission accomplished."

Magnus looked a tad annoyed but Simon knew by now that it was just an act he put on to hide his true feelings. Maybe even from himself. "Now _what_ did I tell you about your depressions?"

"Excuse me if I'm not _happy_ about being successfully played by a powerful demon who has taken away Isabelle."

"None of us is happy, Simon", Alec said. "But Magnus is right, we need to focus on what's important and not weep about what happened. We need to look forward."

Simon took a short laughter. "Right and what's that? Visiting Magnus' Father, which none of you want to tell me anything about, hoping that the story he told Magnus is true and then find a Fallen Angel and ask him to cry for us?" None of them said anything. "I used to think Clary's plans were suicidal, but this actually tops everything she has ever come up with."

"Our possibilities may not be very attractive right now but they're all we have. Besides, you're not going to see my father. I am."

Alec blinked at his boyfriend. "Alone?"

"Yes. He's known to kill intruders without even asking who they are or what they want."

"Wouldn't that mean he'd kill you, too?"

"I'm counting on him sensing my presence. Demons might not be the most loving or caring fathers, but they can always sense their children."

"But, if we're with you-" Alec tried but didn't get to finish.

"I cannot risk it, Alexander." Magnus grabbed Alec's hand, looking deep into his eyes.

Simon felt like this was one of those moments where we could have done the Snoopy Dance, completely naked, and none of them would notice him. He also felt redundant and lonely, because without Isabelle and Clary he really was... not even Jordan or Maia were here. Right now he was the third wheel.

After a while he decided to give Magnus and Alec some privacy and retrieved into the guest room, were he had often slept with Clary. Wow, that sounded wrong even inside his head. There had been a time were he had wished he would have really been sleeping with her, in the biblical sense, but that time was long gone. Clary had never been right for him, he knew that now. Izzy on the other hand... she was everything he'd ever want.

The moment he threw himself on the bed he felt that tiredness was taking over him very quickly. Tiredness he had ignored over the past days and nights. It had been bound to overwhelm him at some point but to be honest he had completely forgotten about it. The last thought he had was that it would be okay if he rested his eyes for a while, it wasn't like he was needed to do something any time soon.

As soon as he had drifted off he found himself standing in Isabelle's bedroom in the Institute. He instantly felt comfortable and peaceful. It was one of those dreams were you knew you were dreaming and you could enjoy yourself. Then, suddenly-

"Simon."

Isabelle was sitting on her bed, smiling at him. Yes, this was definitely a dream he could enjoy.

: : : : : :

Magnus bend down a bit and gave Alec one last kiss. During times like this they could never be sure that a kiss would not be their last one. Especially when one of them was headed to see the Prince of Hell, leaving the other one completely unprotected. Well, unprotected by magic. Alec was still a Shadowhunter and Simon a Vampire, they ought to protect themselves, at least when Lilith or Sebastian didn't show up themselves. Or Jace, of course. Still, Magnus felt bad leaving him. In dark times you wanted to keep your loved ones close and not be in a different dimension than they were.

Yes, he would have to go another dimension to see his father. The only reason Magnus was even capable of opening a portal to that very dimension was because his fathers blood ran through his veins. Inter-dimensional travelling was known to be very a tricky business, because no matter how good you were you could never quite be sure to end up in the place you wanted to end up in.

"When are you going to be back?" Alec asked and sounded as worried as he looked.

For a moment Magnus was recalling a memory. "Well the last time I was there it took me three weeks to find my way back home. But I really think I can do it faster this time."

"You better. I don't know what I'm going to do without you. And to make things worse Simon is still here."

Magnus grinned. "Try not to kill each other, will you?" He had decided to take off while Simon was still asleep. He wasn't very good at goodbyes. His whole life he had hated them. Shadowhunters didn't do goodbyes in general, something, he was very fond of. Still, he was glad that Alec had made an exception for him.

"I can't promise anything." Alec joked and then let him go. "Take care of yourself."

"You, too."

When he turned around his stomach twisted. He really didn't want to see his father again but there was no other way. Taking a deep breath he stepped through the portal...

… and everything went dark.

The only light he had was coming from the portal, which- yes, of course; disappeared in that very moment.

"Great." Magnus sighted. "And I forgot my lighter." he mumbled sarcastically. Even with nobody around he still couldn't keep his comments to himself. Yes, sometimes he simply liked to hear himself talking.

The last time he had been here it hadn't been this dark. Apparently his father had re-decorated. But if he remembered one thing correctly about this dimension he knew that he needed to take a leap of faith to get anywhere. Therefore he took one step after another, not knowing if he'd still have ground beneath his feet after the next step.

: : : : : :

"I wish you were real." Simon said, looking at Isabelle. She was as beautiful as ever but there was something in her eyes that was unsettling – she was worried about something. Panicked even.

She got up from the bed saying: "I _am_ real, Simon. I'm here!"

He smiled. "Of course you are. This is my dream and I dream about you all the time..."

"You do?"

"Who else would I dream about?"

Isabelle smiled at him but then shook her head. It looked like she was forcing herself to get back on track. "That doesn't matter now."

"Right." Simon was taken aback and yes, a bit hurt. "Thanks."

"No, I mean... of course it matters. More than you can imagine." There was a shimmer in her eyes and Simon could tell it was hard for her to change the topic again. "But there's something I have to tell you, something very important-"

"Really? Usually my dreams don't tell me anything important."

"Well, how can they, when you're too busy being naked in front of your schoolmates?"

Simon froze. This didn't go like any of his dreams about Isabelle and she sure as hell never mentioned other dreams of his.

"Are you going to listen to me now?"

No, not really. He was far from being ready to listen to her. "Is it really you? I mean... you-you?"

A smile appeared on her face but fainted as quickly as it had come. "Yes. I've been waiting for you to fall asleep for hours. There's one good think about having a demon taking control over your body: If you're good – which I am – you can tap into that demons powers. I did, to come visit you but I can only do it when you're asleep. I know everything Lilith is doing, I know what she and Sebastian are up to."

"You do?" Suddenly Simon was very eager to listen.

"Finally." Izzy said, relieved at him believing her now. "But we don't have time to get into any of this now, because she has send Jace to you again. She told Clary she wouldn't, if..." Sometimes you could tell when people were leaving a certain part of a story out. This was one of those times, but Simon didn't dare asking, she'd just snap at him again. "The point is, Jace is coming."

That sentence sounded so much better when it started with _Santa Clause_ and ended with _to town_.

"You have to _wake up_ before he gets there, Simon! You need to get out of there, _now_! Jace has the order to _kill_ one of you and he will stop at nothing..."

Swallowing hard Simon asked: "Who?"

: : : : : :

Right after Magnus had went through the portal it had closed. It was probably better this way, because with it closed Alec wasn't tempted to follow him. Not that he was as stupid as Clary sometimes was, but it didn't feel right to let him go there alone. He knew how Magnus felt about his father, which was why (if possible) he loved him even more that he would even go to him.

Alec had meant what he'd said. He wouldn't know what he'd do without Magnus but not just because he loved him more than he loved his own life. Magnus was the only one who he could always rely on to find a solution. Even now, when things were darker than ever, he had thought of something.

He ran his fingers through his hair and let himself fall on the couch. What was he supposed to do now? Magnus gone, Simon asleep... Alec felt like she should be doing something, too. Not that he considered sleeping as doing something, but still.

A knock on the door.

Alec got up immediately and walked slowly, to the door, pulling out his seraph blade. With a quick movement he opened the door but there was no one there. He looked around – nothing.

He exhaled and turned around, wondering if he'd imagined the knock, but suddenly saw Jace standing right in front of him.

"I'm really sorry for this." Jace said and hit Alec so fast and hard that he lost consciousness immediately.

* * *

Oh-oh... Now, you didn't really expect me to leave you without a Cliffhanger, did you? xD A lot has happened in this chapter. Please tell me what you think :)  
As usual, I'll try to update as soon as possible!


	12. Jace' Assignment

**ICraveYou:** In Sebastians defense, you don't know if he lied yet lol As for Jace, keep reading to find out!  
**musicrules1923:** Oh, you thought the Sizzy-Stuff was in the last chapter? Hmmm... keep reading ;)  
**ilyreid:** You're right, I don't think he could forgive himself if he did.  
**RonaldGarcia91:** lol Sorry, you just lost a bet. I have never watched a single episode of Grey's Anatomie. (Hospitals creep me out, even in tv lol) I can't wait for the movie either!  
**Guest:** Thanks :)  
**Bluedreamcatcher99:** Wow, thank you :D

Okay, so here goes Chapter 12. Enjoy (or something like that... you'll see what I mean)

* * *

**CITY OF CRYING ANGELS  
chapter twelve: Jace' Assignment  
**

Magnus froze when he felt the energy in this place changing. It was hard to explain how he knew, because he still didn't see or hear anything but his own steps and breath (and occasional swearing) but he knew something had changed. And he knew exactly what. _Daddy_ was home. Fallen Angels didn't open doors, shouting 'Honey, I'm home!' they simply appeared. Magnus had to admit - that was classy. If anything he might have his sense for style from his father, although he was not, and would never be, willing to actually admit that.

"My son."

The voice was nothing but a creepy sound, to everyone else this might as well could have been someone scratching on a chalkboard, but Magnus' mind was able to make out words. It was a very ancient demon language, his father had basically implanted this knowledge inside his head. However, he refused to reply in the same language. Mainly because his vocal cords would not be able to stand more than two words. He wouldn't be able to speak for weeks and considering how beautiful his voice was, he could not take it away from the world for that long.

"Obviously." Usually he would have come up with some feisty comeback but with his father, he couldn't. He didn't even want to. All he wanted was to get this over with as fast as possible and get back to Alec.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Everything around Magnus was still dark. He imagined his father had somehow managed to get his body even more misshaped and he didn't want Magnus to see it.

"Information. You have it, I need it."

A moment of silence.

"Why should I help you?"

Magnus' mouth formed a half smile. "I'll write you a card on father's day." No reply at all. Magnus could feel the presence of his father slightly vanishing and added quickly: "Wait! The Story you once told me. About the Tears of an Angel being about to restore the natural order of things. Is it true?"

The presence neither fainted, nor did it get stronger. Magnus took that as a good sign.

"You speak to me in the tongue of the unworthy and demand information?"

"A simple yes or no will do. That's barely information."

"_That_", he could hear his father getting upset. "is one of the greatest secrets no one should ever discover. I will not tell you so you can share this delicate information with the ones with the Angel's blood running through their veins."

"Have you been spying on me?"

"Spying is beneath me. I know how you feel about one of the Nephilim, I have known the moment you have entered this dimension. Everything you feel, everything you know, I know it."

Magnus didn't say anything.

After a while his father continued "You knew this before you came here. It is why you have not wanted the Nephilim to come."

Magnus snorted. "I sure as hell wasn't going to provide you with every bit of information that's in his head." Which was a lot, especially about the Shadowhunters. Being one himself, Alec would always know more about them than any demon would, even Magnus. This knowledge in the wrong hands could be dangerous.

"And yet you still want my help?"

"Hardly. I want you to tell me what I want to know and then I'm gone."

There was a very... _very_ long moment of Silence – Magnus had just started to wonder if his father had fallen asleep – he replied: "It is true. But the Vampire has pointed out what is also the truth... you will not be able to obtain tears of the Fallen. We are _able_ to create tears and yet none of us ever has. For there is nothing on any dimension we are sad about."

Magnus clenched his teeth. He would have loved to tell him that he was wrong, that there was a way to get what they needed, but deep down (which actually wasn't that deep) he knew that his father was right. "Then tell me another way. Isabelle can't stay this way."

Silence.

"Father... tell me."

Nothing.

"TELL ME!"

Finally, he replied. But it wasn't what Magnus had wanted to hear.

"There is none."

: : : : : :

Alec had never had such a headache. He had often been hurt but the instant he gained consciousness again he remembered _who_ had hit him and it hurt even more.

Jace! He still had to be here! It took him a lot of energy but he managed to open his eyes and realize what situation he was in. Jace had used the chains Luke possessed to chain him to the wall, but there was no sign of Jace himself.

Maybe he was already gone? What had he come here to do? With a million questions in his mind Alec got up and tried to free himself from the chains, but it didn't work.

"Careful."

He jerked as Jace walked back into the room. "They'll hurt you if you try to get free."

There was no mocking in his voice, he actually sounded concerned that Alec was going to hurt himself. "I'm already hurt, thanks to you."

Jace frowned. "I said I was sorry. Parabatai's are supposed to forgive each other when they apologize, you know." He sounded so much like the old Jace, the real one, and yet he wasn't.

"I have always forgiven you, no matter what crazy situation you have gotten me into. I would even forgive you if you were yourself... I would forgive the real you everything. But you're not him."

"I really wished you'd come around. Clary did."

Alec snorted. "I'm not Clary."

"Yeah, I noticed. No offence but she's hotter than you are. Besides, you don't have red hai-"

It was too much having to stand here and listen to Jace being all himself and not being himself at the same time. He didn't even let him finish his sentence. "_Why_ are you here?"

Jace was silent for a moment, before she said: "He says that sooner or later you are going to try and take her away from us again. Isabelle. And I agree with him."

_Of course you do, you're his puppet. _Alec thought but Jace actually _was_ right about this... they were trying to get Isabelle back, but not just her – Jace as well. "She's my sister." he said, clenching his teeth. "I need her."

"She's also my sister... and you hate Sebastian so much that we can't exactly work out a system where you get her every second weekend of a month and every third she stays with us. Besides, she has made her decision. She's with us now."

"No she didn't! She's possessed! You didn't bring Isabelle back with you, you brought Lilith!"

Jace shook his head in disbelief and also sadness. "You really can't stand the fact that she made up her mind, can you?"

Alec looked at his Parabatai for a while before he said: "If she truly had made up her mind, she herself, I would try and respect that. I would." He didn't think he'd manage to be okay with such a thing but he'd at least try, because he loved his sister. "But I already told you that the girl you have brought to Sebastian isn't Isabelle." his voice was calm this time and he hoped he could be able to reach Jace that way.

"Enough talk." Jace sighted. "Where is he?"

"Who?"

"Don't toy with me. You know who I mean... and the sooner you tell me the sooner I can let you out of these chains. I really hate to see you like this."

While mumbling "I'm so sorry for you", he thought about Jace' words until it hit him. _Simon_, he thought. Jace was here to kill Simon. It only made sense, Isabelle was in love with Simon and Lilith was suffering from the echo of that emotion... Magnus had been wrong. Lilith would not avoid killing Simon, she'd want to get him out of the way so that he wouldn't be a distraction. They must have figured out a way around the Mark of Cain. Or – Alec thought in shock – maybe Sebastian was going to kill Jace with this and not Simon? Now that he had Lilith, would he need Jace any more? Did he send him on a suicide-mission?

"You're here to kill him." he shared his theory with Jace who couldn't meet his eyes anymore and looked away.

"Look, I'm not exactly _happy_ about this. But it has to be done." he looked up again. "So. Where is he?"

Alec thought about Simon, sleeping in one of the rooms, completely helpless if Jace found him. Of course, there wasn't much he could to when he was awake either. He was a Vampire but, no matter how much Sebastian controlled him, Jace was still the best Shadowhunter of his age. Simon wouldn't stand a chance. Hell, even Alec wouldn't stand a chance... as if he needed proof to that he felt his wrist hurting from the chains.

There wasn't much he could do right now but he could to one thing: Lie. He had gotten pretty good at it, considering how easily he lied to Magnus about his meetings with Camille. Speaking of... she might be just what he could use right now. "He went through a portal. Simon went with Magnus. They're going to meet with Camille Belcourt. We... we wanted to check if she would join us in the fight against Sebastian."

Jace surveyed him, obvisouly trying to figure out if he would trust his words. "Why aren't you with them?"

"Camille used to date Magnus. He didn't think it would be wise if I came... Magnus was going to go alone, but Simon's a vampire. Camille approached him before, we thought he could try and convince her." While he was surprised by how convincing _he_ sounded right now (Magnus would never believe he could lie that good) his facial expression remained steady.

"Very well." Jace said after a while and seemed to believe him. Alec's relief didn't stay long, because Jace threw himself on the couch, saying "I can wait."

"You're going to die, if you try to kill him. You know that, right?" Alec asked, hoping the thought of dying would at least hold back _this_ Jace. There had to be at least one personality of Jace which would be afraid of dying.

But he didn't get an answer to his question.

: : : : : :

"Simon! We can't lose any more time, WAKE UP!"

"_Yelling_ doesn't help to wake someone up, Izzy!" Simon thought about his words. "Or, I guess it does, but only if you do it from outside the actual dream."

Isabelle sighted and ran her hands through her hair. "This can _not_ be happening..." She was starting to panic and Simon really couldn't blame her.

It was quite ironic that he had to fall asleep to get warned about what would happen... only to find himself incapable of waking up again, to prevent it. "I can't help it... I'm exhausted. I don't think I'd wake up if someone threw me into a swimming pool filled with blood."

"Well, in that case we're going to have to wake you up from in here." She went to her window, opened it and stuck her head outside. "This should work..." She turned around and said: "Jump." Isabelle actually sounded proud of herself for having come up with this. She seemed to consider this a genius move.

Simon blinked. "Are you serious?"

"Do I look like I'm kidding?"

"Iz... this is going to hurt like hell."

"It's just a dream, you won't _really_ get hurt. But the physical drama could wake you up." she said matter-of-factly.

"I'll _still_ feel the pain!"

Isabelle looked at him with a stern expression. "Do you want to avoid feeling pain or risk dying for real? Because I assume the missing Mark on your forehead in here is missing on the real you as well?"

Oh, so she'd noticed. He hadn't even told Magnus and Alec about that yet. Everything had been so crazy he hadn't even had time to think about all the things he wanted to tell Isabelle... everything that was on his mind. And his heart. But right now he was still in shock about all of this, all he could do was nod.

"Wow. That's amazing. How did you get rid of it?"

"The Angel took it away."

"What? Why?" she then shook her head. "No, we don't have time for this... just... wake up, get everyone out of that house and then come back and tell me... everything."

Simon hesitated for a moment but then walked up to the window. When he tried to take Isabelle's hands she pulled away. "Simon, don't" she said. "Lilith doesn't know I'm here. Yet. But if you touch me, I... I'm afraid it will trigger so... much... she might notice what I'm doing." Her eyes were shiny as she looked up. "As much as I want you to" she slightly shook her head and Simon could tell how hard it was for her to say these words. "you can't touch me."

It took him a while but eventually he nodded. "Okay. I won't. But I am going to say what I need to say because we don't know what's going to happen once I wake up." _If_ he woke up and didn't spend the rest of this dreams lying on the ground as a pancake. "We don't know if I'll be able to come back again, so listen to me."

"Simon-"

He didn't let her finish. "Before I met you I was convinced I knew how it felt to be in love. I didn't. I never loved Clary the way I love you. People say Vampires don't need anything to stay alive besides blood. But that's not true, not for me. I need _you_. I will always need you." A rear ran down Isabelle's cheek. "I don't know what I'm going to do once you're gone. But I do know that this day is going to be far far away. You will not die because of any of this. I will make it out of the house, Alec will make it out and Magnus will make it out. And we will figure out a way to exorcise that demonic bitch out of you. I don't know how but I'm going to make it happen."

Isabelle looked like she wanted to reply but was lost for words. Finally she said: "Simon, I... I..." she frowned and closed her eyes. "Don't make me say it." She opened her eyes again. "If I do, I... I don't think I will be able to go back and seeing Lilith controlling my body. I don't think I'd be able to be apart from you without being destroyed by it."

Suppressing his disappointment he nodded. He understood. "But... you do... don't you?"

Breathing hard Isabelle nodded. A nod, that meant the world to him. He reached out for her face and when she didn't pull back he stopped right before it. In his mind his hand lay on her cheek and he leaned down to kiss her, but he knew he shouldn't. He pulled back his hand and crawled out of the window.

One last time he turned toward her. She had wiped off her tears but couldn't help new ones from coming. "I'll be back. And... you'll be back. And then we're going to watch Terminator and you're going to understand why I chose these words." Isabelle silently laughed and Simon smiled at her.

Then he jumped.

: : : : : :

"This is getting boring." Jace complained.

Alec grunted. "I'm not having much fun myself." He was still chained to the wall and it started to really hurt. Every bit he moved the sharp edges of the chains chafed his wrists.

His plan to protect Simon might have worked so far, but it was bound to fail at some point. Either when Simon woke up or when Magnus came back alone and by then he'd better have a Plan B. Simon and him were never going to be best friends but he certainly didn't want him to die. After all, considering how Isabelle acted when it came to him it was pretty much possible that Simon would one day become his brother in law – if Isabelle would return to normal and if they found a way around the whole Shadowhunter-Downwordler-Difficulty.

And then it happened. Sooner than Alec was ready a portal opened again and Jace was back on his feet in no time, drawing out his Seraph Blade. He said it's name and Alec was bound to watch the blade coming to life. Alec had always thought the glowing of a Seraph Blade was calming, reassuring. Now it was scaring the hell out of him.

As if it weren't enough the door sprang open and Simon stood in the living room, looking exhausted and panicked. Before anyone could do or say anything Alec said: "Jace stop! You don't have to do this! - Simon, by the Angel, don't just stand there get out of here! Jace is here to kill you!"

Simon frowned.

Jace frowned.

Both turned to Alec, both very confused and in the same moment Jace asked "Simon?" he asked "Me?"

"That's what you thought? Alec..." Jace continued, his voice as careful as if he was trying to balance a glass sculpture through a battlefield. "Why would I want to kill Simon? He's not the threat."

Alec suddenly felt like someone had punched him the stomach. Hard. "But... then..."

As something moved inside the portal time seemed to slow down. Alec saw Simon rushing towards Jace, but he easily fought him off and threw him to the other side of the room.

Magnus stepped out of the portal, already not looking happy, when confusion took over his expression. Right as Alec yelled: "MAGNUS, LOOK OUT!" Jace appeared behind Magnus and ran the blade through Magnus' chest. In his face Alec could see shock, horror and pain before everything got blurry, because tears shot in his eyes. "MAGNUS! NOOOOO!" He tried to break free from the chains more than ever as Magnus fell down on the floor. He was still breathing, Alec could see it, but Jace stabbed him one more time, ignoring Alec yelling at him.

And eventually Magnus stopped moving.

* * *

...

I really don't know what to say to leave you with. Believe me, writing the ending of this chapter has been very hard for me. I had to _force_ myself to keep going. I am just as scared as I am curious to read what you think about this chapter...  
(Oh, and: Please don't yell at me. I feel bad enough as it is.)

I'll try to update soon.


	13. Separated

**SIZZYsizzles:** You didn't come back? I do hope you have come to control your feels by now. Sorry that I messed them up.  
**ICraveYou:** Now, why would I want to do that? That would take all the fun out of it lol  
**Guest:** Thanks! And aww I know... it's painful for me, too.  
**ilyreid:** Sorry, I'm afraid it is true =/ And thanks! Glad you enjoyed it :)  
**RonaldGarcia91:** Will they? I don't know.  
**mina:** Well, the Tears of an Angel restore the natural order of things. And unfortunately there is nothing unnatural about death =/ Thank you, though!  
**musicrules1923:** Glad to be of help :D And that you're better again! That's right. Bad Jace... I actually considered naming the chapter "Jace did a bad bad thing" but decided it would give away too much lool Aww thank you about Izzy! Well, since Sebastian controls Jace this bond is stronger than the one he has with Alec =/  
**TheLittleRoguex:** Well, _I_ didn't... it was Jace... technically.  
**allthatdemigodishness:** Thank yoouu!

Wow, that was so much less hate than I expected after the last Chapter... because it was like zero. You are truly amazing readers!  
Anyways, here's chapter 13. And as you'll see in the end, the title does not only refer to Magnus and Alec. Oh and Simon has a very cool scene. But I should simply let you read it and stop fangirling over my own fanfic, it's getting embarrassing lol

* * *

**CITY OF CRYING ANGELS  
chapter thirteen: Separated  
**

Alec dropped down on his knees. He tried to say Magnus' name one more time but no sound came out. Tears ran down his cheek but he couldn't take his eyes off of Magnus' body. And all this blood...

He barely recognized Jace, as he approached him again. "If I free you, do you promise to behave?" he asked.

Still not taking is eyes off of Magnus Alec managed to reply: "I promise to cut you into pieces." There was so much hatred in his voice it surprised even himself. And he meant it. Every word. Jace was his Parabatai, his best friend, but right now if he _could_ kill him – he would. Of course there was more keeping him from being able to kill Jace than only these chains. Compared to how skilled Jace was, Alec would probably be the one to end up dead, if he went up against him. But he didn't even care. Right now dying would be the only thing to stop the pain inside his whole body.

"You wouldn't do that." Jace sounded overall confident, but there was just the slightest trace of insecurity in his voice.

He looked at him with steady eyes and his teeth clenched. Jace had just killed the love of his life, Alec wasn't in control over what he did or said. "Try me."

After a moment Jace frowned as if he really couldn't see why Alec acted the way he did. "Look, I need you to understand something here... You can't blame me, really. Magnus brought his on himself. We wouldn't have needed him out of the way if he hadn't been your fairy godmother. He always came up with ways to save the day. as you put it. but Sebastian isn't a threat. No one needs to be saved from him."

When Alec didn't reply Jace continued: "You'll understand it one day. And when you're ready to apologize for your behaviour, I will forgive you, because that's what a good Parabatai does."

The way Jace stood behind every single one of his words was even more painful than the actual words. Suddenly Jace' expression turned into surprised when someone held a sharp axe against the side of his neck.

"I'm not an expert." It was Simon. Apparently he had made his way back to them and picked up a friend along the way. A very sharp friend, which was now threatening to cut off Jace' head. "But I really don't think Parabatai's – _best friends_ - aren't supposed to kill each other's boyfriends. That's really the only reason you're still alive right now. Because I would never do that to Clary."

"Correct me if I'm wrong but in that case it's rather pointless to point an axe against my neck, isn't it?" Jace asked.

Simon shrugged his shoulders. "The axe is really just to proof a point. I'm not going to kill you – but I _could_ have." Alec couldn't help but to think that he was right. Jace had been too distracted, if Simon would have just swung the axe he could have easily chopped off his head.

Apparently the same thought hit Jace in this moment, because he swallowed hard and started to look pissed off.

"You might want to give that message to Sebastian. Magnus' death won't do him any good. If anything it made things worse."

Jace slowly turned around to face Simon. "Big words for such a small person. I could easily kill you too, you know."

"Does the phrase _Mark of Cain_ ring any bell?" Simon asked. "But even if you could kill me – which you can't... it would hurt Clary like hell and I doubt even the you, you are now, is willing to do that."

"I'm not so sure she cares about you any more. Which reminds me... I have to go check on her."

Simon was obviously holding back tons of questions but his desire to want Jace gone seemed to be stronger than keeping him here by asking them. Jace threw a key at Simon, who didn't catch it and by the time it hit the floor Jace had already walked out the door.

After a moment of looking after him Simon let the axe fall on the floor, picked up the key and used it to unchain Alec. He failed to thank him as he rushed towards Magnus (he failed to apologize for knocking Simon over, too) and fell to his knees.

Very carefully, he was trying not to hurt him, he turned Magnus around and quickly closed his eyes, when he saw that they were wide open. Another rush of disappointment hit him, when he realized that Magnus was truly gone. A part of him had hoped that he was just faked it, to make Jace go away...

With a deep sadness hovering over him he grabbed Magnus' hands, tears were still running over his face. "Take it." he whispered. "It's yours..." When nothing happened he tightened his grab around Magnus' hands. "Come on... you can have it. All of my strength..." Breathing hard, he lowered his head until it rested on Magnus' chest. "Just come back to me. Please."

But there was no denying it. Magnus had left him.

: : : : : :

_Damn it, Clary... if you wouldn't love him so much I could have killed him an end this nightmare once and for all._

Simon had never approved with every decision Clary had made but since she met Jace he disagreed with her more often than ever. What he'd said to Jace had been true – if it weren't for Clary he would have done it. Killing someone – and Magnus of all people – definitely got you a ticked straight to hell. Of course Simon didn't know if he had actually been able to kill him. Jace would have probably gotten away in the last second and killed him instead, but at least Simon would have died trying. Of course he could always use the Mark of Cain as a reason not to kill him, but it was just a matter of time before Sebastian and Jace found out he didn't have it any more. And then he'd be dead faster than he could say Clary.

Seeing Alec like this hurt him as well, but he was also sad about Magnus' death. On a subconscious level they had been good friends and in a way Simon had been able to rely on the fact that in 100 years, when every one of his friends would be gone – Magnus would still be there. It hurt even more, that he had woken up just in time but hadn't been able to save him anyway. And Isabelle, who had risked everything to warn him about this... she'd be so disappointed in him. He had failed.

Suddenly Magnus' voice rushed back into his head. _"Let us know when you're depression is over, will you?"_ Yeah. That was probably what he would say right now...

Simon didn't say anything for a long time before he finally brought himself to say. "I'm sorry. I should have... been more useful." He wasn't sure if Alec blamed him.

After a view moments Alec looked up. "There was nothing either of us could have done." A moment of silence. Then: "Give me a moment alone with him, will you?"

Simon nodded and started to walk away as his gaze fell on the portal, Magnus had come through, which was still open. "Shouldn't we like... close this?"

Alec's gaze had fallen back on Magnus, he didn't even pay any attention at the portal as he said: "I'll take care of it."

"Okay." Simon said and opened the door. "I'll go get Luke's car and wait outside."

And he did. It didn't take him long to find the keys and the car. It took longer to wait for Alec. Much... much longer. By the time Alec finally got out of the house dawn had already come. But Simon didn't say anything about that. Alec deserved as much time to say goodbye as he needed. But he wasn't exactly able not to say anything either, as Alec got in the passenger seat.

"Aren't we, uhm... going to take him with us?"

Alec took that long to answer, Simon had already considered to ask the question again. "Just drive."

While he wanted to point out that some of Luke's friends might come here and find Magnus' body... there had been a terrifying sound in Alec's voice, he didn't dare to say anything else. Simon had never really been afraid of Alec, but right now it felt like it didn't take more than one wrong word and he would crack. Alec was barely holding himself together right now, a blind person could see that.

Therefore he simply started the car and none of them said another word almost the entire ride. Simon didn't even try to cover the silence up with the radio. Not because he wouldn't have welcomed some distraction but because he knew the radio in Luke's car had been broken for years. For some reason he had never cared to get it fixed.

Unfortunately it got to a point where he needed to break the silence by asking: "Where do you want to go?"

"Magnus' place."

"Are you sure? I mean, we could go to my mom's house, if its-"

"It'll be fine. I need to be there."

Simon nodded and turned left. "Okay."

Two turns later he blurred out: "I talked to Isabelle." He had been wanting to tell Alec this ever since it happened, but he felt bad about it... Alec had just lost his boyfriend and Simon got to talk to his obsessed somehow-girlfriend? Yeah, that's fair.

When Alec turned to him with a frown, Simon was glad that Alec could still show emotions. He hadn't, ever since he got in the car. "You what?"

"I talked to her. When I was asleep."

Alec sighted. "That's called a _dream_, Simon"

"It was _her_! She somehow found a way to tap into Lilith's powers and talk to me, but it only works when I'm asleep. She... warned me Jace would come and kill Magnus. Would she have done that, if it was just a dream?"

Alec looked away and thought for a moment. "Don't be naïve, Simon. That wasn't Isabelle."

"But-"

"NO BUT!" Alec yelled but pulled himself together again, taking a deep breath. "No one can tap into the demons powers who has possessed them, especially not when that demon is _Lilith_. No one's that good, not even Isabelle." Simon was about to say something but Alec cut him off before he could. "She told you about Magnus because she knew there was nothing you could have done anyway. But she also knew that it would make you trust her and make you believe she's the real Isabelle... which obviously worked."

Simon bit his lip. "No... you didn't see her. I mean, I could always tell when there was something off about Isabelle. But there wasn't this time... it was all her. Our Izzy." _My Izzy._

Alec shook his head and took another deep breath. "You cannot trust her, not matter how much you want to. There is no way to be sure it's her and not Lilith. She might just be getting better in pretending to be Izzy."

They arrived in that exact moment and after Simon parked the car and killed the engine Alec added: "You can't talk to her again. Don't tell her anything that might interest Lilith."

Simon remembered something. "Uhm..."

Alec got that look, people used to get very often with him. "You told her something already, haven't you?"

"Sort of..."

"What was it?"

Instead of saying anything Simon simply lifted the hair above his forehead to show Alec... well, nothing, technically. But that nothing told Alec all he needed to know.

"But... when did that happen?"

"The Angel took it away." He let his hair down again. "It was one of those _Never call upon me again, or the next time I will kill you_ kind of things."

"Well... there goes that option."

They got out of the car and walked up the stairs to Magnus' apartment, again, in silence. It was becoming their thing. Come to think of it, it had always been their thing. They never have gotten along very well and now they were the only ones who were left... kind of ironic. Of course Simon could always call Jordan and Maia but to be honest, things have gotten that messed up, he didn't want to drag them more into it than they already were.

Alec unlocked the door to Magnus' apartment and when they were both inside Simon said: "I don't think I can do it. _Not_ trust Izzy, I mean... I'm sorry. It's just, you didn't see her... if you would have you'd know she's not a threat. She said she could see and hear anything that goes on with Lilith, she knows what her plans are... if she tells us-"

"She could lead us into a trap and kill us as well!"

"So? What CHOICE do we have? I don't like to say this but I think we should face the fact that without Magnus we are _screwed_! We don't have a plan, we have nothing! Isabelle is our only hope to get some kind of advantage in this situation."

Alec looked down to the floor. "I'll figure something out."

"Right, because you've been so good at it, lately..." Simon regretted his words in the very moment he said them and stared at Alec in shock. A look, which Alec returned. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

Again, though, Alec cut him off. "Yes. You did."

Silence.

Suddenly Alec turned around and walked towards Magnus' bedroom, saying: "I'm going to bed."

While Simon knew that Alec wasn't really going to bed (he was just going to continue to lose himself over his lost of Magnus and of course continue to dislike Simon) he couldn't just let him leave. "Don't you think that we should tell someone what happened? I mean, there must be someone who can help..."

"By the Angel", Alec swirled furiously around. "HOW many times do I have to say this? We still have ME, _I _CAN HELP!" After realizing that he had yelled again he lowered his voice. "Not that you would believe me, because I'm just a big failure, who can't get anything right."

"I'm not saying you're failure. But we have to face facts here..."

"Okay. Fact: _I_ ordered Isabelle to stay behind, when the rest of us went to the burning Institute. Ergo, what happened to Izzy is all my fault. Fact: _I_ was the one who suggested to have you talk to the Angel. Ergo, what happened to Magnus is all my fault."

Did he really think that? Simon tried to clarify. "No, wait, that's not what I was trying to say..."

But Alec ignored him. "Fact: Believe it or not, I have a plan. I'm just going to need some time to figure out the details."

"What plan?"

Alec looked at him for a while before he shook his head. "If I tell you, can you promise you won't tell Isabelle, if you see her again?"

Simon didn't reply.

In this moment a deep canyon formed between them, Simon could almost see how much it separated him from Alec. That was _not_ good. The two of them were like the only ones left who knew what was going on, they should be working together... instead they just kept fighting one fight after another. Of course Simon knew that he should cut Alec some slack. He had lost the man he loved, lost him in a different way than Simon had lost Izzy. There was still _hope_ that they could save Izzy, but Magnus was gone for good. Still, he couldn't agree with Alec just in order not to upset him... he needed to stay true to himself.

Without another word Alec continued his way to Magnus' bedroom and closed the door, leaving Simon alone in the living room. Alone with his thoughts, doubts and hopes... did Alec really have a plan? If so, was it going to work? Might it have really been Lilith he'd met in his dream? Before Alec had brought it up, Simon hadn't doubted that it had been Izzy. He'd simply known it was her.

Now, he wasn't so sure any more. He sat down on the couch and rested his eyes for just a moment.

He knew that he needed to be sure about Izzy when he fell asleep the next time. If anything, Alec was right about one thing: Trusting her _could_ be dangerous. If she really was Lilith. Luckily Simon could buy himself some time to think about this, by simply not falling asl-

"Hey." Isabelle's voice pulled him out of his thoughts and right into his bedroom, where she was standing by the window. Simon lay on his bed and sat up, looking rather confused.

Yeah.

So much for not falling asleep.

* * *

Okay, so no major drama in this one. But sadness and doubt... What do you say? Can we trust Izzy?  
And I know - still no Clary. Maybe in the next Chapter^^


	14. The whole Story

**ICraveYou -** Yes, right in the feels xD Exactly where I wanted to get you lol  
**Blue Eyed Shadowhunter -** I agree, he really shouldn't. But sometimes life isn't fair :(  
**RonaldGarcia91 -** Thank you! You'll find out about Izzy in this chapter.  
**axes tridents and snares -** Oh, but Clary wouldn't have made half as much sense as Magnus did. Yes I saw it last weekend (I live in germany and it's only out here since last thursday) but HELL THAT MOVIE IS AMAZING! There are a few things I would have made different but all in all it was just so wonderful.  
**ilyreid -** I always try to hurry :)  
**Guest -** Thank you!  
**musicrules1923 -** lol you got me all figured out. I try to update at least every two weeks but this time I was actually a bit faster. And thank you so much!  
**SIZZYsizzles -** Oh, poor thing... keep reading. Maybe one or two wounds might heal.

And now - are you ready for some _answers_? Because in this chapter you are_ finally_ getting them! (I've been holding on to them for so long it's weird to finally reveal them lol)

* * *

**CITY OF CRYING ANGELS**  
**chapter fourteen: The whole Story**

Simon was thrilled to see Isabelle again. Here she was, looking as perfect as always, standing by his bedroom window and looking at him. Still, there was this little piece of doubt, Alec had planted inside his head, which grew bigger and bigger... was she really his Izzy, or just good in pretending?

"Hey... Iz..."

Yeah. One thing was for sure... Lilith _might_ one hell of a good liar, but Simon _definitely_ sucked at it. He felt uncomfortable being around someone he loved so much, not knowing whether or not it was really her – and he did not know how to conceal his feelings very good. "Judging by the look on your face you heard what happened?"

"Yes, I did. But I don't blame you... it was too late to save him from the start. Jace told them that Magnus had just come out of a portal, you couldn't have gotten him out of the house in time."

Simon didn't reply. He was too busy standing up and trying to find a way to stand in the room without looking like he was _trying_ to look comfortable. Apparently Isabelle interpreted this in a very wrong way. She frowned and asked: "And I'm sure Alec doesn't blame you either. Does he?"

"Oh, no, he doesn't. It's just... you know. We were never friends or anything and now we're the only ones left." Was that one of the things he wasn't supposed to tell her? Simon was confused to no end. He wanted to talk to Izzy about this, Alec was her brother, she ought to have some kind of suggestion how to handle him. But he was also scared to reveal too much, just in case he was wrong about trusting her. "Things are... a bit tense."

Izzy sighed. "Of course. Magnus was the only one who ever managed to make Alec socially acceptable in a way. Don't me wrong, I love him and always have, it's just that sometimes he can be more than just tense. Now that he lost Magnus... I can't imagine what he must be like."

"Too bad. I was hoping you could give me some kind of manual to get along with him, now that I have no choice but to communicate with him."

"Oh, there's no such thing with my brother. He might not be the typical Lightwood, like Magnus used to say, but we still inhabit the same genes. And a Lightwood isn't tricked into liking someone. You have to deserve it."

"See, that's what I don't get. I mean _you_ like me. Not that I want him to like me the same way, but..."

Isabelle smiled and walked over to him. Simon hat two urges at ones – grab and kiss her (which he couldn't do) and run away (which he didn't want to do). He decided to ditch both urges and went with doing nothing but listening to her. "Well, yes. But Alec and I don't have the same type. Thank _the Angel_ for that... I would hate to fight over a guy with my own brother."

"For what it's worth, if it would have been me, I would have picked you over him." He pretended to think about this for a moment. "But than again, in that leather gear of his..."

"Hey" Isabelle took a short laughter. "I have that gear, too, you know. I could change... this is just a dream world after all."

"Oh... yeah, see, you may not want to do that." When she frowned he held his hands up. "I mean, you're the one who says I can't touch you or Lilith might find out what you're doing. And if you change, well... let's just say there's a _chance_ I might have had one or two dreams about that gear, which are not suitable for children."

This time she laughed. It was nice... this was exactly what Simon needed right now; no life-and-death-talk, just a little nonsense and maybe some embarrassing revelations about his dreams. Since they technically were in a dream it only seemed appropriate. Unfortunately he knew that they wouldn't be able to keep this up. There was so much hovering about them and Simon still had his doubts about her. Even though she was so much Isabelle Lightwood. The Izzy, he had come to love so much and yet he couldn't bring himself to trust her? He felt like he was betraying her somehow. But Alec was right, there was simply no way to find out whether or not she was telling the truth...

"Simon?"

"Huh?" Damn. How long had he been silent? Too long, obviously, because Isabelle picked up on it.

"Something's bothering you."

"Well, yes, a lot of things are bothering me. You know that."

She narrowed her eyes and shook her head. "No, it's not that... it's something else. Spill it."

He sighed. There was just no hiding anything from Izzy... or Lilith... who ever she was. "It's nothing. Just, I talked to Alec about seeing you and-"

"Ah, let me guess: He got paranoid and told you that I was Lilith, who was simply getting better in playing me."

"No, come on, that's not-" Isabelle didn't even have to say anything. She simply shot him one of these looks and Simon said: "Yes. Yes, that's exactly what he said."

She looked at him with a steady face. "And you agree with him?" Someone who didn't know Iz as well as he did would probably say that there was absolutely no emotion showing in her face. But Simon knew that there was; he saw vulnerability, concern and fear. But there was also the tiniest bit of hope.

It took Simon a while to answer and when he did, he was honest with her. "No. I don't agree with him. This is actually one of the things we've been fighting about. But... he _does_ have a point in saying there's no way to be _sure_."

Slowly she nodded. "You're right. There is no way. Everything I say could just be another trap, meant for you to fall in... I get it. I do. To be honest I don't even know if _I_ would trust me if I were you." Her eyes got just a bit shiny but Isabelle managed to keep it at that and restrained her tears. "So, here's how this is going to work: I will tell you what I know. And you decide what to do with it." Not asking if this solution was okay with him – that was so Izzy.

"Sounds good." He wanted to trust Izzy so bad, it almost physically hurt him. But as much as he wanted this pain to stop, he also needed to know what she was going to tell him. If anything, she was right; he could decide what to do with the information she was giving him. He didn't need to believe it. It would be his choice.

He just needed to put all the feelings he had for her aside and try to look at this objectively. Yeah. Piece of cake...

"I don't know how much you've figured out by now on your own... so I will start at the beginning."

Simon could hear in Isabelle's voice that it was hard for her to talk about this. But he didn't stop her by saying that she didn't need to tell him anything if it was too hard for her. He cared about her feelings – but he also needed to hear this. This situation, they were in, was no time for blind trust and he was not going to be stupid. One false decision, one wrong turn, and Alec and himself could die as well and Isabelle would be lost forever.

"First things first... the Institute isn't burned down. Sebastian has lured the Seelie Queen to his side and she helped him to get where he is now. In fact, without her we wouldn't be in this much trouble... Anyway. The fire was just a very good Illusion which got to everyone... as soon as everyone left he moved his hiding place to the Institute."

He frowned. "Wait... Sebastian and Jace... Clary and you. All this time you've been in the Institute? Here, in New York? Right among our noses?"

Izzy nodded. "Sebastian thought it was very funny to trick you like that. And he's right, we've been so stupid... we didn't even think. Institutes are very important to Shadowhunters and despite everything that's happened, Sebastian is still a Shadowhunter. He wanted the Institute for himself. All the weapons, the books, everything... and Clary."

Simon swallowed. "Jace said something... after... I mean, right before he left. About Clary. That she might not care about me any more and that he needed to check on her."

"Well, first of all from all I know he didn't leave. You _chased_ him away." A light smile was on her lips, as if she was proud of him. "Sebastian cares about Clary. He wants her to love him, and I'm not too sure he's looking for the brother-sister kind of love. But she despises him and that actually hurts him. I think every time she turns him down his personality disorder gets worse. He is so obsessed over getting her to love him... he's willing to erase her entire personality to do so. The Seelie Queen found a way to recreate the Mortal Cup. Although they call it the Infernal Cup... they didn't use the Angels blood of course. They used Lilith's. When they get a Shadowhunter to drink from it, he... he will obey Lilith, no matter what. And of course, Sebastian, because Lilith's blood also runs through his veins."

"And that... is that was happened to Clary? She drank from the Cup and is now their pet?"

"They made her drink from it, yes. But it didn't work. It may have worked if Sebastian hadn't tried to bring Lilith back to this world the way he has... but she is inside my body. There's some of her blood running through my veins, too, that's what you tasted, when you drank it. But it wasn't enough to make the Infernal Cup work. Sebastian was very upset about having to wait, because that was his plan all along. Creating Dark Shadowhunters. Bringing Lilith back like that, was really just a back-up plan."

As relieved as he was that the Cup hadn't worked on Clary there was something that still upset him. "That's great but I'm a little confused here... I thought obsession only happened on some spiritual level. How come Lilith's blood runs through your veins?"

"It does. I think that might be why Alec is so worried... when someone is obsessed his Soul slowly dies. It's not strong enough to even _think_ about trying to tap into the Demon's powers. The thing is just... this isn't an obsession. It's like I said: He's trying to bring Lilith back. For real. That's why he..." he broke off. When she finally continued Simon sort of wished she hadn't.

"I'm pregnant. Kind of. The mark he drew on me... it was the Mark of Lilith. He drew it with his blood, that's why I felt it all felt so... weird... it was a ritual, designed to get me pregnant – with Lilith. Right now her new body is growing inside of me. And as soon as it was grown to a certain level... Lilith was able to take control over my body."

Silence.

It took Simon several moments to take in what he had just heard. "So... you're saying that... your baby – isn't a baby, but Lilith. Who is controlling you from inside your body... which means that eventually... Lilith is going to give birth... to herself?"

"Sort of. Yes. A birth which, by the way, my body won't be able to survive. And she is growing ridiculously fast. They say her body will be ready in nine weeks, instead of months. Also, she's going to be even more powerful. A Demon is always limited to it's powers but since she was... conceived in a natural way, she also has my blood inside of her – the blood of the Angel. Which means, once she's back she is going to be the most powerful being there ever was."

"But isn't Sebastian that way, too?"

"No. Sebastian is a Shadowhunter who also has Demon blood inside of him. Technically you could always create one of those... it's easy. Lilith on the other hand will be a greater Demon, who already is incredibly strong, with the Angel's blood inside of her. That's a Paradox. And there is nothing more powerful in the universe than a Paradox. No Demon would have been able to use the Angel's sword he stole from you. But she's going to be able to. And with this sword, she could pull down the gates between the dimensions. Dimensions, inhabited by demons... they would devour the earth. All Shadowhunters in the world would do no good in defending it."

By now Simon had sat down on the bed again. He simply couldn't stand any more. "It would be the end of the world as we know it."

Isabelle nodded and sat down next to him.

"But why would Sebastian want that? I get he's an evil mastermind and everything, but why go this far?"

"Well, that's the thing... Sebastian doesn't know what he's done. I don't even think he wants this kind of destruction. Only Lilith knows what she's going to bring upon the earth. Sebastian only wanted the one person back, he considers his mother. Despite his actions... he's craving for love and acceptance. And the only one who gives it to him... who _pretends _to give it to him – is Lilith. He believes in her. But she's using him. Always has. She even planned getting killed so that all of this could happen..."

Simon looked at her. "But – I killed her."

"Don't think like that. You didn't plan to kill her, it was the Mark of Cain. Which Clary drew on you... because you were in danger. Because of Valentine. Who _also_ created the Sebastian we have to deal with now. This all goes back to him. No one else."

He took a deep breath. "So... what now?"

"Well..." Isabelle put her hand next to Simon's. Far enough not to touch his' but close enough for him to feel the warmth of her skin. "There is one thing we can try. All of us. I'd do it alone but I'm not strong enough to fight her off that long."

"What is it?"

Isabelle took a deep breath.

: : : : : :

"Sometimes Izzy is able to get the control over her body back. It's just for a very short period of time, but if we found her and she could manage... and we could give her the Angel's Sword..."

"Which Jace stole." Alec added.

Ever since Simon woke up he had told Alec everything Isabelle had said to him. Alec had started to believe it was the real Izzy as well. Lilith would have never told them any of this.

"Right. Yes. But if we manage to steal it _back_ and give it to her, she... she could kill Lilith. Of course she'd have to stab herself or... one of us had to do it. Except that she hadn't suggested that." Simon was pretty sure she hadn't done that because she'd known that neither Alec nor Simon would ever be prepared to run a sword through her bod. "Anyway, I think she's right. I mean the Sword is designed to burn the evil out of someone. She thinks she'd probably even survive it."

Alec snorted. "Probably."

"Well, that's better odds than none, is it?" Simon tried not to sound too snappy. When he'd woken Alec the first name he was mumbling had been _Magnus_. Of course, it didn't take him long to tell the difference between the two of them and if anything, he was even more pissed about Simon since then.

Alec took a deep breath. "Let's say we find a way to do all of that – which is still a very big _if_... we might get Izzy back that way. But Jace would still be lost and Sebastian would still be out there. He'd find a way to contact Lilith again and have her pour her blood into the Infernal Cup with would get it to work. And then we have a real problem on our hands."

"We also have a real problem on our hands when Lilith crashes the gates between dimensions and the earth is overrun by demons? So I'm thinking, Lilith first, her evil spawn later."

"There will be no_ later,_ Simon. The Angel's Sword can only be used once, then it'll go back where it came from. And since we can't raise Raziel again... we have to make a decision."

Simon swallowed hard. "So you're saying... either we get rid of Lilith and Jace will continue to worship Sebastian. Or we get rid of Sebastian and Isabelle will die at a birth which will bring forth the end of the world?

Slowly Alec nodded. "I'm afraid that's _exactly_ what I'm saying. And keep in mind, we _still_ need to get the Sword first to do any of that."

They spend a couple of moments in silence before Simon said: "It still doesn't seem right. I mean we're in this really bad situation, I get it... but if there really were _no_ way out... why did they kill Magnus?"

When Alec bit his lip Simon apologized. "I'm sorry, but we need to talk about this. I mean, there must have been _some_ way he could have stopped her." Alec kept biting his lip and Simon kept talking. "But... I guess this is a dead end, huh? I mean, it's too late. Whatever he could have done... he can't any more."

Simon could almost see Alec's mind racing as he leaned back in his chair and when his face lit up Simon knew that he'd had what could have been a life saving idea. "Of course... Magnus! Why didn't I think of this sooner? He already _told_ us everything we needed to know! You remember the story about the Tear of an Angel, don't you?"

Unfortunately Simon couldn't share Alec's positive attitude about this. "Yes. But I also remember us not knowing if it's even true and also the part where we don't _have_ such a tear."

Alec took a deep breath. "Yeah, about that... I kind of _do_."

* * *

Do we love Alec or _what_? *cough* Sorry, I got a little carried away xD  
Anyway... I hope you liked "The whole Story". I'm really nervous about this big reveal(s) so pleeaasse tell me what you think!

I am going to give you a little spoiler for next time... the next Chapter will be called "What to expect from a Lightwood (Part 2)". Remember, the last time was only the first Part :D But that's all you're getting until the next Chapter is ready.

Also I'd like to mention that we're closing in on the end of this Fanfic. I think there are about 2 chapters left. I haven't written them yet, so I don't know for sure, but it'll be something around that.


	15. What to expect from a Lightwood (2)

**ICraveYou -** I know, right? Poor Jo-Jo... well at least in a way. I'm glad I was able to surprise you, though :D After all you do know my way of thinking pretty well lol  
**RonaldGarcia91 -** Every Story has to end some time... whether they're great or not lol I always like how much you're getting into the story that's so great :) And FYI your questions will be answered in this chapter!  
**ilyreid -** Life isn't always fair :(  
**musicrules1923 -** Oh you're welcome! Sadly it took me longer to update this time, sorry for that. As for the two chapters, have a little faith in me lol It will. Or at least I hope so lol I haven't written it yet so I can't know for sure but I have it all planned out.  
**Guest -** Thanks  
**Blue Eyed Shadowhunter -** Yes, there is ^^  
**sno-story -** Me too, me too...  
**axes tridents and snares -** Cassie scares me too. I really just need Simon, Izzy, Magnus and Alec to survive... I could handle the rest to die. But I have a feeling Cassie is not going to let Sizzy AND Malec survive. Maybe even none. Arghs, please no!  
**mina -** Thank you! I made me very sad, too.  
**Dragonclaw11 -** Wow thank you so much! So glad you like the story! Hope you'll enjoy the rest as well :)

Alrighty, let's get to the next chapter, shall we? Questions will be answered and lifes will be in danger...

* * *

**CITY OF CRYING ANGELS  
chapter fifteen - What to expect from a Lightwood (Part 2)**

Unable to think or do something useful, everything Simon could say was: "You… do?"

Alec simply nodded.

A moment of silence later, Simon pulled himself together. "Okay… please don't take this as a way of somehow underestimating you, but… where the hell did you get a Tear of an Angel? I mean, did it suddenly _occur_ to you that there was one lying under your bed all along?"

"Of course not. I got it after Magnus…" he broke off. "Didn't you wonder what I've been doing almost the entire day in that house?"

Simon didn't have a hard time remembering. He'd sat in the car, waiting for Alec to finally come out of Luke's house but it had taken him all day. "I… figured you were saying goodbye."

"I was. At first. Then I remembered the portal, Magnus had used to get to his father. It was still open."

"Yeah, I know, you said you'd take care of-" Simon's jaw dropped open a bit. "You didn't." But when Alec didn't reply Simon knew that he had. "Magnus said it was dangerous for us to go there. You could have died!"

"It was the only way! I admit, I wasn't thinking all too clear… I'm still not sure I am right now, either. But it was the only way I could think of to get us out of this mess and it worked. I got the Tear."

"No offense to Magnus' father but he saw his dead son and started crying like a baby? Son or no son, he is still a Greater Demon."

"It wasn't like that. He said he could give me what I wanted but not without a service in return."

Simon stared at him out of big eyes. "Please tell me you sold him your secret stamp collection, no one knew you had." Admittingly he didn't know much about a Deal with the Devil (in this case in the most literal sense ever) but he couldn't imagine all he had wanted in return was a couple of gummy bears.

"It doesn't matter what I gave him."

"Uh, yeah, it kind of does…"

"Why?"

"Because I'd like to know if I am going into the fight against Sebastian with someone who has sold his soul to a Prince of Hell."

Alec sighed. "You really watch too much movies. One _can't_ sell their soul, it's not possible."

"Well then, what did you do?"

After a long look from Alec, Simon had already started to believe he'd finally managed to piss him off to a point, where he'd have a heart attack, he answered: "You of all people should know." When Simon frowned Alec added: "It's all about blood, isn't it?"

Simon blinked. "He wanted your blood?"

"Yes."

"But why? Greater Demons don't drink blood… do they?"

"He wasn't going to mix himself a cocktail, Simon. He… simply needed it. Look, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that we have _this_" he pulled a little bottle out of his jacket and put it on the table. "This is going to help us save Izzy and… Jace."

Simon didn't point out the bitterness in Alec's voice as he spoke about Jace. It was obvious why he felt that way. He couldn't begin to imagine what Alec was going through. If it had been Clary to kill Isabelle, while being under Sebastian's influence… of course he'd still want to save Clary as well. After all they had only Sebastian to blame for this. Still, a part of him, he was sure of it, would also hate Clary. Probably for the rest of his life.

With a closer look at the bottle Simon saw that it held a shiny white fluid inside. But… "Is that all? That's going to be enough for the both of them?"

"Of course not."

"… Okay, I'm confused."

"Like I said: I have a plan. And with the Tear and the information Izzy gave to you we can actually make it work."

"So you believe me it's the real Isabelle?"

"Irrelevant. Whether it's a trap or not, we have a starting point now… the Institute."

: : : : :

"Has anyone ever told you that your plans are at least _half_ as suicidal as Clary's?" Simon asked after he had parked the car around the corner of the Institute.

"Unusual circumstances call for unusual solutions."

"You call _getting killed_ a solution?"

Alec sighed. "Look, I'd do it alone but I can't. I need you in on this."

"I _am_ in. I'm not so much worried about me as I am about you. I mean, you're the one to put your head in the lion's mouth…"

"Well", Alec said and got out of the car. "If things don't work out I'll have no use for my head anymore anyway. And neither will you."

Simon got out of the car himself and followed Alec toward the Institute while muttering: "Great, thanks. That helped…"

Alec ignored him. He had far more important things to worry about than Simon being scared. Besides, he wasn't completely out of line… his plan was a bit dangerous. But it was all they had left to do. And if Simon had been talking to the real Isabelle, chances were good that Lilith, Sebastian and Jace had no idea they were coming to the Institute. Of course Alec would feel better if he had another Shadowhunter beside him. As much as he needed Simon to execute this plan, as a Vampire he couldn't enter the Institute and it would really help if Alec didn't have to go in there alone. He wasn't used to fighting by himself but was hoping that the element of surprise would work to his advantage. Of course he had considered about talking to the Clave or his parents. Either of them could have supported him but Alec had figured it would take too much time to convince them to go along with the plan. They'd lost enough time already because they hat plottet almost the entire night. In about an hour the sun would come up again.

His parents and the Clave would allow for a Vampire to take such an important role in a fight against Sebastian just as little as they would allow the use of the Tear, something, they haven't been aware of before. A couple of month ago Alec would have agreed with them. He used to always play by the rules, never step a toe out of line. That had changed when he'd met Magnus. Magnus had turned his whole life upside down and Alec was going to honor him by using basically his plan to bring Sebastian down. Of course Magnus had only suggested the Tear. The suicide-part (which it was, Alec actually silently agreed with Simon on this point) had been all Alec's doing.

"Alright. I'm going in." Alec said. "I know my way through the halls but with the company you're about to expect..."

"Damn that's_ right_... and I forgot to bake a cake…"

At this joke Alec smirked a bit. He'd actually come to find two out of ten jokes from Simon to be funny by now. "But you have your friend." He was referring to the axe, Simon had brought with him from Luke's place.

"That's not the only friend I brought." Simon said and looked steadily into Alec's eyes as he held out his hand. "Watch your back in there."

With a light smile on his lips, Alec nodded and grabbed his hand. "You, too."

He then pulled out his Seraph Blade and went inside.

It all seemed so familiar and yet so different. Bad different. One thing though, was sure… Isabelle had not been lying about the fire. It had been an illusion… everything was still intact. Alec couldn't believe how stupid he and everyone else had been… all of them had let Sebastian fool them.

Alec made his way through the halls of the Institute without seeing anyone. The longer he didn't encounter anyone the more he tensed up. He felt like he was being watched, even though he didn't really have any evidence for that… maybe he was just being paranoid. Then he heard someone talking.

"How do you feel?" It was Sebastian's voice. Filtered by a door but it was. Alec neared the door he was behind and listened.

Clary replied: "I feel... like I threw up... ate it... and then did the whole thing over and over again." She sounded weak and beaten – but not defeated. Alec silently admired that about her. No matter how rough situations got she never gave up or tried to hide how she felt just because things might get uncomfortable. She was a true Shadowhunter without having been raised as one.

"The Cup wasn't ready. It messed up your system a little bit, but not to worry… we'll try again when my mother is back for good. And then, my dear sister… you will finally be mine."

"I'd rather keep feeling like this for the rest of my life than be your slave."

Sebastian took a deep breath. "You'll change your mind. Until then … I hope you'll feel better soon. I hate to see you suffering."

As he heard Sebastian approaching the door Alec quickly moved away from it and hid around the next corner. He waited until Sebastian's footsteps completely vanished before he walked to the room again – it was locked. Alec took another look around himself. No one was here but taking down the door wouldn't work quietly… and this wasn't a rescue mission.

He didn't come to get Clary out of there, she'd only slow him down and he'd probably get caught. But maybe she knew were the Sword was… Alec had no idea where to look for it. He'd have to search every room (only one of many flaws in his genius plan). And if he didn't get the Sword they could send the entire plan to hell. He had to make a quick decision.

Not even a second later a loud crack echoed through the hall of the Institutes – and Clary looked at him as if she'd almost just had a heart attack.

"Alec?!" she asked in a whisper.

"There's no need to whisper. I'm pretty sure I made enough sound for Simon to hear it and he's _outside_."

Clary got up from the bed she'd been lying on. Her skin was pale and she had dark circles around her eyes – basically, she looked like hell, but she wasn't tied up. Not that she needed to be. Alec didn't think she'd be able to walk five steps without collapsing.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I'm looking for the Sword of the Angel and found you instead." That about summed it up. "Do you know where it is?"

Clary shook her head. "No, I barely know how to keep myself from blacking out all the-" suddenly she stopped and stared past Alec, her eyes wide open. "Or... yes... I do."

Alec frowned and turned around – Sebastian had come back and he had, also, brought not only one friend, but two... one was Jace and the other was the Sword.

"Hello, Alec." Sebastian said.

Alec could see just how much Sebastian was holding back a grin right now. He didn't know why he bothered, though... except for Jace everyone in this room knew what a monster he was. And the real Jace knew it as well. Except that... ever since Jace killed Magnus Alec had had problems to believe that the Jace he knew, his Parabatai, was still in there. But he had to be.

"It's nice to see you out and about. You know, after the tragedy..."

"What-?" Clary began to ask but didn't need to finish the question to get an answer.

Unfortunately the answer came from Sebastian. His voice was cold and yet he still managed to sound cheerful. "Jace had to eliminate Magnus."

Clary sobbed. "No... Jace?"

"It's true." Alec said before Jace got a chance to answer.

"Na na... no defend of your Parabatai? I was expecting a speech, about how I was the bad guy, keeping Jace under my control. You always talk about it _that_ way."

Alec shrugged his shoulders and tried not to let Sebastian's words get to him. "I don't do speeches. If you wanted to hear that you shouldn't have killed Magnus. What I _do_, however, is _that_" with that he jumped behind Clary, pulled out a knife, it's sharp side pressed against her throat.

While Jace jerked up Sebastian didn't move a muscle. "You are being ridiculous. You wouldn't hurt her."

Alec clenched his teeth. "You killed Magnus. You... have turned my sister into a greater demon, you got the Sword and all I have left to fight you with is a Vampire who probably doesn't even know how this is _spelled_. I suggest you _think again_ about the things I would or would not do."

Sebastian shot him a disgusting smile.

"Do it then. Kill her."

: : : : :

Nervous.

Yeah, you could say Simon was a little (okay, _a lot_) nervous as he stood outside the Institute, simply waiting for something to happen. Lately that seemed to be everything he was doing... waiting. And he was sick of it. This mess was going to end tonight – one way or another.

Not knowing how Alec was doing inside the Institute made the waiting part even worse. Even if he managed not to get caught, how would he find the Sword? Every time Simon had asked about this Alec had just waved the question away, mumbling something about he would find a way. And then he would change the topic. So, at the end of the day (or almost at the end of the night, in this case) Simon had no idea exactly how Alec was going to get the Sword. But they needed it. Without the Sword their plan was screwed, or at least a very big part of it.

As for the other part, they were depending on something very primal to take over Lilith – the need to destroy what threatened to get in her way. In this case Simon. Alone. Armed with only an axe. Of course, for that instinct to come over Lilith, Simon needed to get her attention... and there way absolutely no way to make sure it was actually her who would come to him.

It was save to say their plan had it's flaws.

Simon got something out of his pocket; his phone. He had no idea whether or not Lilith was carrying Isabelle's phone with her but it was the only way he could think of in making contact with her. But he didn't call her, he wrote a text (hoping, that Lilith would be able to open it – after all, old people usually weren't good with this stuff and she was _really_ old).

So he typed.

_I am outside the Institute. Alone. I want to talk._

Sent.

And then he waited... he didn't get a text back. Not that he had expected that. To be honest he had no idea what to expect. Maybe she'd ignore him or didn't have Izzy's phone with her and then Simon would have to come up with some other genius plan to get her out of here.

About ten minutes later, the doors of the Institute opened and Simon couldn't help but get exited for a second, when he saw Isabelle – just before he painfully reminded himself that it wasn't her. He knew that, of course he knew that, but seeing her... it still got to him.

"Good, you got my text. I was worried you wouldn't be familiar with the concept. But I really didn't know how to get a message, carved in stone, to you..."

Lilith smiled deprecatory and ignored him completely. "You said you wanted to talk. I was curious what might have turned you suicidal enough to want to talk to _me_. I might not be able to kill you but that doesn't mean I can't torture you."

"I believe you. But I think you misunderstood me... See, I never said I wanted to talk to _you_."

She frowned.

It was hard to Simon to stay on track, but he needed to keep his eyes on the goal here. "I want to talk to Isabelle."

For a moment there was nothing but silence but Lilith broke it with a cruel laughter. "Isabelle? Oh dear... you really haven't learned anything. Isabelle can't hear you. She's as good as dead. Has no one told you a single thing about possessions?"

"Yes. In fact I'm pretty sure I could get my bachelor in possessions, but that really doesn't matter, because you... _haven't_ possessed her. Your growing your own new body inside of her, which, by the way, is very gross."

It was just a little twitch in her face, barely even a second long before she contained herself again... but Simon had seen it.

"We know more than you think you do. Haven't you asked yourself why I'm here? At the Institute? Which _burned_ a couple of days ago?"

Lilith didn't say anything but he could tell he was pissing her off and yet she was still reluctant to try and kill him. Thank the big guy up there (since he couldn't even think of the name of g-), she didn't know about the mark yet.

"You underestimated us. Just as much as you underestimated Isabelle... it's funny, really, when you think about it. Sebastian chose her, because Jace went on and on about how strong she was... and she is. She's stronger than you expected her to be and I think she's also stronger than she gives herself credit for. Which, FYI, is _a lot_ already. Her self-confidence is almost as big as the one Jace has. I talked to her, did you know that? To Izzy. While you thought you had everything under control, she managed to contact me and that is why I know that she is still inside this body and that she can hear me."

He smiled. It was gentle now, because this smile was meant for Isabelle.

"And Izzy, I need you to listen very carefully. It's like Magnus always said... you're _just_ what to expect from a Lightwood. You're a family of fighters, you're strong, smart... and most of all stubborn. But Izzy, I need you to be even stronger, even _more_ stubborn right now. You need to come back to me. Just for a moment and I _promise_ you it will all be fine... You tapped into her powers before, you can do it again... use it against her. There are only a couple of things in this world I still believe in. I believe that Clary will always have at least _one_ suicidal idea per day. I believe that Jace will always continue to annoy me. And I _kind of_ want to believe in Santa Clause, because, well, I like the idea of a fat man climbing down the chimney without getting stuck. That keeps the whole You-can-do-anything-you-want-no-matter-what-the-ob stacles-are Spirit-Thing alive. But most of all I believe in _you_. If anyone can kick Lilith's ass in there it's you. Show them what they get for messing with Isabelle Lightwood."

As he'd spoken her expression had gotten darker and darker and by now Simon felt the need to drop dead just from the look she gave him.

_Come on, Izzy._ He thought. _You can do it... show her what you're made of._

She took a deep breath, not taking her eyes off of him for just a second.

"You stupid Vampire."

* * *

... Don't hit me lol I know this is (AGAIN) a very mean Cliffhanger. In my defense: I wasn't going to let this Chapter end with one in the first place. But as usual, as I came across it, I simply couldn't resist. And technically there are even two Cliffys... oh boy. I'm sorry guys lol You have to put up with a lot reading this xD

Anyway. There are going to be one or two surprises in the next Chapter... So stay tuned! And review in the mean time please :)


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